


Wall-e and Will-e

by Control_Room



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: <3, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Comfort, Dystopia, Family, Gen, Gore, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Outer Space, Violence, WALL-E (2008) References, WALL-E AU, earth is no longer inhabitable, eska kim and niamh are random ag's, will be marked
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2019-07-04 11:58:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15840828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Control_Room/pseuds/Control_Room
Summary: It's been 230 years since the Earth was declared as unsustainable, and all of humanity was evacuated for a detox.Now there are only two detoxers left.A cleaning bot, Wall-e, and a distilling robot, Will-e.Who would have ever thought it would end up like this?(rated t for swearing and brief violence)





	Wall-e and Will-e

The dust billowed up by their feet, settling dryly after minutes of floating in the still air. The atmosphere was dry and thin. It hadn’t rained for… days? Weeks? Months? Years? Decades? Centuries? The cleaning robot sighed, as much as he could. He was a Waste Allocation Loader for Earth, a Wall-e. An identical robot was nearby, much quieter than he. The only difference was their directive, and thus, their names. So, the Water and Intelligent Life Extractor, a Will-e, walked at a slower pace beside him. He decided to ask him. He should know.

 

“Hey, Will-e?” his voice sounded scratched and rough. The searcher stopped scanning and looked up with a blink, and the music playing from him paused. He was listening. “When was the last time it rained?”

 

“Thirty seven years, two hundred sixty seven days, four hours and fifty one minutes,” he replied, and if Wall-e thought his voice was bad, Will-e’s was awful, glitching and wavering. “It was a light acid rain drizzle. Lasted nine minutes and eighteen seconds. Will not rain again for… ten weeks.”

 

“Ah. Thank ya.”

 

“No problem.”

 

“Will it be acid again?”

“... I don’t know.”

 

They continued their sweep, Will-e often helping stack boxes of scum. He had nothing better to do. There was no water, no life. His directive was useless. It had been for two hundred thirty years. Wall-e’s was at least productive, of sorts. But there was no one he could split the burden of cleaning earth with except his ‘brother’. He was the only one, the only Wall-e left. They both were. All the other Wall-es had long since shut down from overuse, and all the Will-es had given up and waited to die. The only reason these two were alive was sheer luck on the Wall-e’s end and pure spite on the Will-e’s. Additionally, the twin robots kept the other going, repairing each other and helping with their jobs. It grew dark, darker, and darker still.

 

“Warning, dust storm imminent,” Will-e informed Wall-e. “We should return to the shelter. Dust storm in… two hours.”

 

“Alright, Sam!” Wall-e called. A small septic being wiggled in the air, swimming oddly though nothing to them. It was a mutant. Nothing was as it should be. “Let’s go home.”

 

Dirt trailed them as they walked through the decimated city in silence. Skyscrapers rose above them, and yet, above those, mountains and colossal, but neat, stacks and piles of garbage. They loomed above the functioning robots, thinning out as less trash was everywhere. Advertisements for a mega company, Drew Studios, were everywhere. They traverse miles of desolate waste, clamoring over piles of waste that were moved by extreme weather. ‘Oblivious’ to (choosing to ignore) the roving storms of toxic weather, imminent in their region according to Will-e’s scans, the two bots pressed on. They passed the decrepit and haunting structures buried deep within the trash. Buildings, highways, entire cities... everything was branded with the same company logo. Drew Studios, where we make dreams reality! Someone had spray painted ‘nightmares’ over dreams on one of the massive billboards. The corporation ran every aspect of life, banking, eating, marketing, government — you name it. The logo was even emblazoned on Wall-e’s and Will-e’s chest plates, more faded (scratched, torn, forcibly damaged) on Will-e’s. It was as though he had a personal vendetta against the man. Will-e picked up a newspaper he stepped on. The headline blared the trash to be unbearable, and that all humans were to leave Earth due to a ‘global emergency’, initiated by Joey Drew, the ‘owner of Earth’. He stored it inside his hollow chest, and as he rose his head, he saw Wall-e sitting down on the ground in pain. His feet were battered and cracked. Will-e frowned empathetically before turning to look for new feet for his twin. He didn’t need to go far, as there was an entire graveyard of broken down, rusted, and outdated Wall-es not three feet away. He found functioning peds, unscrewing them manually and bringing them to his brother to fix him. Wall-e was able to get more repairs than Will-e, due to the fact more Wall-e models were marketed and made. The Wall-e model was built to be bulkier and stronger than the Will-es, which were built to be more resilient and lithe. But, because of the common fear one would get hurt, Wall-e downgraded his hardware and Will-e upgraded his, making them look far more alike, and allowing them to use the same parts for repairs, making the fixes much faster and less panic ridden. They continued after Wall-e was certain he could go on walking. They neared the launching bay for the starfleet, not used for nearly three centuries. The largest of them had been called the “Bendy”. Slightly beyond the useless and enormous waste of space, was a carrying case labeled ‘Wall-e/Will-e transport crate’. That was were the two of them were headed. Well, three with Sam. The got on from the back after Will-e typed in the passcode, lowering a ramp. Wall-e took off his shoes as Will-e removed his boots. He put the newspaper clippings amid a pile of other ones as Wall-e put a hat on top of four others. Will-e took Wall-e’s clothes and his own, leaving to the outside to shake out the dust. Well, shake out at least some of it. Wall-e continued to unload small treasures from himself, a small gold watch and (somehow) a banjo, putting them on shelves. Will-e, once he returned, put an intact black light light bulb on his shelf. They debated if a utensil was a fork (Wall-e) or a spoon (Will-e), before deciding both, putting it between said items. The two, after having unloaded, picked to watch the improvised TV, an ipod rigged to a betamax player, then magnified by a huge warped glass, to which Will-e surprised Wall-e with a new tape for. It was a rom com musical called ‘Hey, Alice!’ starring an angel and a demon. Wall-e and Will-e copied the dances, laughing. They were all recharged out by the end, which had the two protagonists hold hands and kiss. Wall-e and Will-e knew was a kiss was and they knew it was romantic, which just seemed wrong for them, but they held hands anyways, as though to say to the world that they were still there, together. Outside, the wind roared and billowed. Inside, Will-e hummed quietly to Wall-e as they rocked the shelf they ‘slept’ on, and as Wall-e shut down, Will-e thought about how alone they were. He felt empty. It was just him and his brother. Alone.

 

Morning was completely silent, aside from the small beeping of the ‘charge necessary’ coming from Wall-e’s diagnostics. Wall-e groggily got out of his cot like bunk, falling on his face. Wall-e put his shoes on, stumbling outside and waiting for his curls to absorb the sun’s rays and turn them into energy. Will-e was already there. He charged longer and lost battery slower than Wall-e. It made sense, since he was an expedition robot, and Wall-e was a fixing robot. A few moments later, the tone of their full charge signal hummed from Will-e, then Wall-e a few moments later.  Sam poked out of the storage crate, jumping onto Will-e’s shoulder as they set off. They scavenged as Wall-e cleaned, carrying all sorts of random knick knacks that they found laying amidst the junk, like a rubix cube, a whisk, a lighter — small treasures. Wall-e kept a ring while Will-e kept the box. Wall-e tossed away a fire extinguisher in disgust, his face covered in foam, Will-e catching it and storing it. As the day wore on, the faster they worked, completing one enormous tower as the sun set. They looked out over the wreckage of Earth, with it’s sepia toned everything. The sky was a nauseating tan, the ground a dizzying decay of yellow and grey, the very distant oceans a toxic vomitrocious sludge. Wall-e and Will-e weren’t only the last of their models, they were also the first. Will-e’s memory banks, less damaged than Wall-e’s, remembered how Earth looked two hundred fifty years ago. He and the other Will-es were supposed to supervise the restoration, to signal Drew Studio Enterprise Ships that Earth could be inhabited. That seemed a bleak possibility. Will-e exhaled slowly, extending his hand to his brother. He took it and closed his eyes. Though the connection, Will-e showed him Earth before it went to Hell. He led him though side streets and alleyways, into the rivers and streams, with crisp and clear air. He showed him how, despite everything, life thrived. But that was then, Wall-e blearily thought as he exited the memory bank. Now, it was desolate. They descended from the tower. Not paying attention to his footing, Wall-e pitched forwards near the end, tumbling down the slope, Will-e racing down after him worriedly. He crashed into something metallic. Will-e appeared in his dazed sight in a blink of an optic, looking over him with concern. Wall-e shook his head. Will-e stepped away, relieved. Then it happened.

 

“Water detected,” blared from his speakers, making both robots flinch, then freeze. There was no way water could be anywhere near where they were. And yet, his sensors pinged their location, right beside them, in the refrigerator. Will-e slowly opened it, light falling on a small plant. “Imp… impossible… W-Wall-e, Wall-e, look, it’s better th-than just water! It’s,” record scratch, “it’s,” another glitch, “it’s a plant!”

 

“No way…” his twin breathed, carefully scooping it out, setting it into the boot he had picked up earlier. Will-e’s entire body thrummed with excitement, he was practically vibrating. He actually was vibrating. Wall-e looked at him in astonishment. “Do you think that Earth is getting better? Will-e, do you think that it’s gonna be like ya showed me?”

 

“I… I don’t know,” he admitted, glancing away. A ghost of a wistful smile rested on his lips. “Maybe. I sure hope we can see it like that.”

 

“Me too,” a grin spread over Wall-e’s face. “I bet that we’re gonna be the ones to restore Earth to life.”

 

“I don’t know… but hey! You already are, haha,” Will-e quietly said, already having exerted his voice for the day. “I thiiiii….”

 

His voice trailed off suddenly, and he coughed, trying again, no sound but a static emerging. He shook his head. Wall-e frowned. His brother couldn’t speak very long anymore. He used to be able to talk much longer, but his vocal processing chip had begun to break down, and they had yet been able to find a perfectly working one for him (they had one less broken one). They weren’t concerned by this, since they had all his other parts needed incase something bad did occur, but so far, aside from a few minor bumps, they had been fine.

And him not being able to speak wasn’t so much of a problem. Just an inconvenience. Will-e made a house shape in the air. Wall-e nodded. He thought they should go home. He agreed. It was getting late. They trudged back. They put all their stuff away, stepping out into the open air to analyze the weather for the next day.

 

Suddenly, Wall-e noticed something on the ground. Something shiny and bright. A red dot, quivering beside him on the ground. He tugged Will-e’s sleeve, and he looked as well. It moved away from them sharply, and they leapt to hug each other in surprise. It swerved away from them, and Wall-e gave chase, his brother unable to call for him to return. With no other choice, he ran after him, not noticing the massive amount of more spots trailing them, forming a target. They followed the dot far into the polluted expanse of Earth, rising and falling into valleys caused by the water leaving the atmosphere, leaving tracts similar to those on Mars. The duo dashed for the dot, Wall-e reaching it with a “Ha!”, as it slipped over his fingers.

 

“What the…” he was shocked, running his hand under it multiple times as his brother caught up. “Will-e, what is it?”

 

“L-l-l-light,” he roughly huffed, clearing his throat from the dust. “Ya can’t hold it.”

 

“Oh,” Wall-e felt disappointed, then confused. “But why is it doing this?”

 

“I… I don’t know,” Will-e said. He felt like he was saying that a lot lately. His water detectors sensed a concentration of fluids above them, mostly thurium. He looked up, and his eyes grew large. He tackled Wall-e to the ground, and the older modeled robot saw the giant shuttle as well. “Dig, we’re cornered!”

 

They dug as fast as they could, managing to cover their heads in the dirt. They closed their eyes tightly as flames burst above them. And then, after the raging fires, it all went quiet. They poked out of the dirt, a huge metallic structure directly above them. They let out breaths neither of them were aware of holding. Will-e helped Wall-e out of the ground as a scanner passed where they were two moments ago. They froze as the device opened wider, revealing a keypad that was quickly typed into by yet another robotic device. Will-e rolled his eyes at this, before becoming enraptured by the new sequence. Three capsules were lowered onto the surface. Android shaped. The protective shields dropped away one by one, revealing three robots, their names etched onto their clothing. One stood firmly on the ground, as though his mass was greater than that of the other two’s. Another’s feet seemed to have multiple modifications available, like wheels and grip pads. The last of them was hovering, green repulsion waves emitting from the shoes.

 

“Okay,” the first one said bluntly. “Let’s go back to the ‘Bendy’. There’s clearly nothing of worth here.”

 

“Oh, shut up, Samu-el,” the second chuckled, running his hand over his artificial beard. “We don’t know if that’s true, Sammy.”

 

“I am a Sorter And Manager of Utilities, Earth Level,” he snapped back, “and now we’re on Earth, I sort it into ‘trash’, and as a manager I say we leave this pile of junk, Thomas.”

 

“I disagree, as the Tester of Organic Mass,” Thomas argued. “And there definitely is organic mass here.”

 

“Well, I’m sure that Shawn doesn’t want to spend even two days here, as he need to fin--”

 

“Classified,” Shawn interrupted with an air of command. The bickering robots snapped back into place obediently. They seemed scared. “We stay.”

 

He signaled the ship to leave, forcing the two hiding bots to hide somewhere further than the blaze. As the smoke re-cleared, Wall-e and Will-e were able to get a better view of the newcomers. Shawn, with a laugh of relief, launched himself into the air with a spin, darting through the thin atmosphere, reaching speeds past the speed of sound, causing a sonic boom, before returning to his party. TOM, or Thomas, was the shortest of them, with platinum blonde hair poking up and forwards, a beard sans moustache, a utility belt on his hips, and a tank top covering his chest. He wore baggy khakis, with a hammer hanging out of one pocket. Samu-el, or Sammy, was the tallest, strawberry dirty-blonde hair shoved back seemingly forcefully, as though naturally it would be sticking up everywhere. Wall-e let out a laugh at the idea, and Shawn, the last of them, swiveled around and shot the boulder they hid behind with a plasma ray, blowing it to smithereens. Will-e had predicted the blast range, and thus was able to hide himself and his brother quite well along the grooves of stone.

 

“You guys go ahead,” Thomas said after a long moment. “I’m going to test this area for it’s organics.”

 

Retreating footsteps and the quiet sound of hover shoes becoming fainter. Quiet steps towards them.

 

“C’mon out, I can sense you,” Tom huffed. Will-e and Wall-e exchanged glances. “You’re crawling in microorganisms. Well, more specifically, microorganisms are crawling on you.”

 

Slowly, Wall-e stepped out from behind the rock. Will-e followed immediately. Thomas seemed surprised.

 

“What?” Wall-e grumpily questioned, folding his arms. Thomas seemed to forcibly keep his jaw from dropping at the sound of his voice. “Ain’t ya ever seen a Wall-e?”

 

“Well, um, no, not in person,” he stammered. Will-e analyzed him, noticing he was sweating thirium. He was nervous. His palms seemed moist as well… eye fluids concentrated to pupils… well, dammit, he seemed to be attracted to Wall-e. Will-e bit the inside of his cheek. Best not to interfere. “We only have Wall-gs onboard the ‘Bendy’. You know, the giant versions. Um… they don’t nearly sound as nice as you do. Uh, they’re also a lot bulkier… and well, um… yeah.” He eyed Will-e. He felt uncomfortable under his gaze. “You’re not a Wall-e though, your model seems to be different.”

 

“I’m aaaaaa,” his voice broke again, and he tried to speak twice more before giving up and pointing at his chest, where ‘Will-e’ was written out. “It’s… i… not… a.”

 

“What do you do?”

 

“He looks for and finds liquid,” Wall-e jumped in, covering for his brother’s silence. “But, honestly, there isn't much of that here, though.”

 

“Ah,” Thomas nodded. He smiled weakly. “I won’t tell Sammy or Shawn about you guys. Sammy doesn’t want to be here at all, and Shawn… well, he’s Shawn.”

 

The next day when Will-e woke up, early as usual, and, he was surprised to see Wall-e’s bunk empty. He jumped up, seeing no trace of his brother. He panicked, until he heard it. Quiet, giggly whispering. He slipped out the back door, the silent one, so as not to disturb them. He looked over at them from behind, and his throat clenched to see them holding hands. It wasn’t like how he and Wall-e’d hold hands, this seemed immensely different. Maybe it was the way their heads tilted toward each other, or it could be the giddy buzz that seemed to radiate between them, but it was probably the way that they were holding hands, not just one over the other, like he and his brother did, but intertwined and interlocked. More… physically intimate. Will-e suddenly felt he was intruding on something very private. He turned away, red, making his way to nowhere, Sam swimming to his shoulder. He sighed, patting him. Will-e was purposeless. There was no water left. It had all evaporated or disintegrated, or was trapped far underground. This was something Shawn was finding, out much to his agitation. And so, in his frustration, he blew up a stack of old newspapers, the dry pages bursting into rapidly vanishing flames, crumpling to ash and dust. Will-e jumped at the explosion, peeking around the corner to see an angered Shawn and a somewhat annoyed Sammy.

 

“That was a waste of energy and resources,” he snapped. “Face it! This is usele--!”

 

“Samu-el,” Shawn pointed his plasma blaster to Sammy, who swallowed back his words. “If you want to be **useful** , I suggest you go find Tom and work with him. I know we’re not going ta find anyt’ing, but guess what? I don’t care. So, that’s that. Make yer choice.”

 

“... I’ll go now.”

 

Will-e pressed himself against the wall as he passed him. Will-e looked out to Shawn when he was certain Sammy had gone. The android had a plain black tee shirt on, with the letters ‘PMA’ emblazoned over his heart. Just regular jeans. His head seemed to hover, as there was the smallest of gaps on his neck, as though his head wasn’t fully attached. He seemed usual enough, but lithe mechanical muscles strained as he ran a hand through green hair, as though he was keeping himself from blowing up the whole planet. Will-e sucked in a breath when he turned in his direction. Small dark brown, almost black, beard. With lips that were not thin nor thick, sharp and angled brows, a squarish nose, he was not much different than most people. But Will-e had never met many droids or humans, and even so, he knew that his eyes and eye color was stunning, a bright, beautiful, breathtaking blue. And all his features put together made him quite a handsome man. Will-e stared at him in wonder and awe… he knew it was impolite, but what else could he do? He couldn’t talk to him (even if he wanted to [which he most definitely did not {he did}]), or go up to him at risk of blowing up like Sam was doing at the momen- SAM! Will-e watched in terror as Shawn whipped out his gun at the slightest little ‘squish squash’ noise Sam made, blowing up the ground he was inching his way down. Sam popped out of the crater in the ground, even as smoke billowed out of it as well. Will-e thanked God that Sam was a little radioactive septic eye and not a living creature or a robot that could sustain physical damage. Shawn tilted his head, looking at them inquisitively. He extended his hand for them to get on. They squirmed on his palm, wiggling their way up to his shoulder and neck, jiggling through the gap that actually was between his head and neck, tickling him and making him laugh. Will-e’s world stopped when he heard that laugh. It was loud, but not obnoxiously so. It was not too high or too low, it was the perfect laugh, just pure joy. Will-e felt the thirium in his veins pulse through his system faster, and he forced himself to relax. He couldn’t let this Shawn know where he was, even if he seemed safe and warm, he really wasn’t. Will-e leaned forwards, and stiffened as the things directly beside him toppled down. He heard Shawn’s plasma ray charging up.

 

“Who are you?!” he demanded, nearing the junk pile. Will-e edged back, trying to answer. Damn his faulty voice chip. He hurriedly began to make a binary message. 01010110 01101111 01101001 01100011 01100101 00100000 01100011 01101000 01101001 01110000 00100000 01100010 01110010 01101111 01101011 01100101 01101110 00101110 00100000 01000001 01110000 01101111 01101100 01101111 01100111 01101001 01100101 01110011 00101110. He sent it to the air and hoped Shawn wasn’t so far updated so as to not understand. “Answer me, you co-- oh. I see. How do I know you’re not lying that your voice chip is broken?”

 

He was interrupted by Sammy yelling. He growled.

 

“That fool, what happened this time?” he grumbled. He turned back to face where Will-e was hiding. “You stay there, I’ll be back fer you.”

 

Will-e, having more of the pieces, put one and one together. If his brother was with Thomas and Shawn sent Sammy to be with him, that means Sammy probably found out about them, which instantly turned to Sammy yelling about wasted resources. All of this was processed in two moments, leading Will-e to pull on his goggles, making a run for it, three paces behind Shawn.

 

Sure enough, Thomas was standing in front of Wall-e protectively and before an enraged Sammy, pleading with him to calm down before Shawn found out. Shawn huffed a laugh.

 

“How many damn robots are on this fookin’ planet? They were all deactivated according to our scans,” he wondered aloud, not noticing Will-e behind him. He cleared his throat, adopting a cold manner once more, hovering into the light. “Before I find out what, Tom?”

 

“Please, Shawn, it’s really not what it looks like,” he attempted to placate, his hand squeezing Wall-e’s. “I-I, I just think tha--”

 

“Oh, do ya know what I think?” Shawn asked quietly, dangerously. The air seemed to get colder, despite the extreme heat. A green light shot from his hand, a tractor beam, capturing Wall-e’s and Thomas’ linked hands together. He turned their immobile hands remotely, taking way too much pleasure in drawing out the tension. Thomas was fidgeting and a bright blue blush was on his cheeks. Wall-e kept his gaze on the ground, his own cheeks red. “I think that this is _exactly_ what it looks like. Tom, Thomas, d’ye really think I’m that stupid? Sure, I might not be all that smart, but seriously? I think I need to come up with a reasonable punishment for the three of ya.”

 

“Three of us?!” Sammy spluttered, turning red from anger. “How dare you loop me in with them?! I am--”

 

“Not listening to your superior, if you don’t recall,” Shawn quieted him with a stern look. “And you’ve been incredibly a pain in my arse, havin’ ta deal with ya. I had to threaten you to do your own damn directive. So, yes, you are looped in with them.”

 

“Yes sir,” Sammy mumbled, looking at his shoes, blue blush rising up his neck. Will-e seemed to understand that the color of the blush represented the feeling. “Understood. And, um, can I ask what the punishment may be?”

 

Another green light slipped from Shawn’s fingers, tying his waist to a chain, connecting him to Thomas by the hip, changing the beam on Wall-e’s and Thomas’ hands to do the same. Each light chain was about two and a half feet, giving them space, but not so much.

 

“So, we’re stuck with ‘im?” Wall-e asked, grinning. Sammy seemed mortified. Wall-e looked over him, leaning over to Thomas to whisper something in his ear. Tom chuckled, looking over him as well, nodding to Wall-e. Sammy’s blush became purple, before entirely blue. “Oh, this’ll be _fun_. What do you say, cutie?”

 

“Shawn, I demand to be released,” Sammy cursed, trying to edge away. “I am… um….”

 

“Turning extremely blue,” Thomas hummed, hand resting on his chin. He winked at Sammy. “I didn’t know you fancied me! Is that why you’d always get so flustered when I wouldn’t listen to you? Oh my God, you’re indigo. So I’m spot on, eh?”

 

“N-not one hundred percent,” he muttered, glancing up. Wall-e’s eyes met his, and he returned his gaze to the floor. “Maybe fifty percent.”

 

“And the other fifty is for me, ain’t it,” Wall-e asked, but he wasn’t teasing. Sammy nodded without looking up from the ground. “Well, I have no complaints if Thomas doesn’t have any.”

 

“I think I’ll go now,” Shawn suddenly said, turning away, a blue blush spreading on his cheeks when he was no longer in their line of sight. Will-e caught them smirking as he floated away from them. “You three enjoy yer punishment, or whatever.”

 

Shawn lifted himself into the air, Sam still on his shoulder. He soared far above the dust clouds, scanning the city. It flashed red. He flew to the next area, the valley, repeating the scan. He zoomed into a Drew Studio Super Market, Will-e following him like a love struck puppy, tripping on the stairs and crashing into the glass doors, accidentally setting off all the carts to tumble after him and pile over him. Shawn snorted at the sight, the loud noise having distracted him. He rolled his eyes, moving on. Meanwhile, Wall-e was asking Thomas and Sammy all sorts of questions, eyes lit up from their prompt answers. They all walked through the alleys, and Wall-e told them how once this was a magnificent city, describing to them the wonders of Earth before from what he learned from Will-e’s memory banks, and they told him of their experiences on the ‘Bendy’. Wall-e was enraptured by their explanation, grinning with bright eyes. He told them he wanted to see it as well. The two exchanged soft and sympathetic glances. All three of them knew it would never happen. It grew dark, and the three of them returned to Wall-e’s home, the forgetful robot forgetting about his brother’s existence. Said brother was sitting on the roof of a building with a small smile, watching Shawn travel here and there, hundreds of futile scans passing. Shawn settled in a pipe yard to shut down for the night, Sam curling up on his shoulder to sleep. Will-e crept in from a fire hatch little bit away, gazing at Shawn before smiling at setting to work with the pipes. He picked one up and saw how well it could bend. He grinned. Pretty good. He turned on some of his less used functions (who’s he kidding, he never used any of his functions), and started working anew, feeling an odd sense of purpose. He hadn’t had a sense of purpose for years. And now it was back, and all he wanted to do was show yes, he had a purpose, and he could fulfil that goal… whatever it was. He didn't know what it was, but he knew it had everything to do with Shawn. And all he wanted to do was see the green haired android smile and laugh, and smile and laugh because of him. He looked back at the dozing Shawn, holding back a wide grin, opting for a small smile instead. This he could do.

 

Shawn rubbed his optics with a yawn, stretching out. Sam extended themself on his shoulder like a cat. He grinned softly, blinking away ‘tiredness’. And then he saw it. He leapt up, incredulous, looking over the pipe sculpture of himself. It was obviously him, hovering off the ground by the means of wire thin steel ropes, metal hair spray painted green and sticking up everywhere, a t shirt with PMA engraved in it, the whole works. Even Sam was on his shoulder. He walked around it, smiling. He let out a small laugh, more optimistic for the day.

 

That optimism began to deteriorate as the day wore on, hours pushing by ever so slowly. It was excruciatingly long winded and useless.

 

Every. Single. Blasted. Scan. Was. Negative.

 

Shawn slammed shut the hatch of a ship, flying up and nearly away, only to be caught by the magnet above him. He strained to escape, Will-e watching from slightly beyond the shipyard. With a scream of frustration, he launched himself away, blowing up the whole ship with a plasma ray, causing a chain reaction of the ships exploding each other, flames painting the darkened land orange and red. He breathed heavily, before sinking down to rest against an anchor, the very anchor Will-e had been behind. He crept out slowly, watching the flames in silence alongside Shawn. He glanced at Shawn, who turned to him suddenly. Will-e instantly returned his gaze to the conflagration.

 

“Treoir...? Directive?” Shawn asked, looking at him inquisitively. Will-e looked up with some surprise, then stood up, holding a finger up. Wait a second… he moved, placing his hand on the ground where he stood moments before. After some time, he stood up, producing a cup from his chest compartment, placing his other hand on top of it. Water filled the cup, clear and pure. He passed it to the stupefied Shawn. His glowing blue eyes widened. “Do you know what this means, especially to me?”

 

“Uh…” his voice cracked, so, blushing he shook his head, whispering, “w-what?”

 

“That there could be…” Shawn was the one to trail off. He stiffly looked out to the inferno. “Nevermind.”

 

“Oh… dir-dire--” he stopped, coughing roughly. He shook his head, pointing at Shawn. “Directive?”

 

“Huh? Oh. Classified.” Shawn replied, almost feeling guilty. “What’s your name?”

 

“Will-e,” he answered, the name sounding so foreign. Shawn was looking at him. “You… are… Sh-Shawn?”

 

“Yes,” he smiled lightly with a nod. Will-e returned the smile weakly. His scanners started beeping wildly. He panicked, reaching for Shawn, mouth open with no words coming, only static. Shawn drew his gun, unaware of the danger. “Hey, watch it!”

 

Then the dust storm hit, Will-e drilling himself into the ground, protected himself. But Shawn, who was hovering, found himself tossed by the insane winds.

 

“AH! Help!” he yelled in fear. A hand gripped his wrist. “Will-e, Will-e, help!”

 

He pulled him slowly through the buffeting winds, using his internal gps to get them to his and Wall-e’s home. They slipped in together through the back door, the light already on from Wall-e, Tom, and Samu-el inside. Shawn sneezed dust out of his exhaust, Sam flying off his shoulder to land on a shelf, where he curled up and went to sleep. Wall-e poked out from behind another rack, signalling them to come. A pop came from where he was, followed by a few more and laughter. They rounded the corner to see Sammy popping a sheet of bubble wrap. Thomas was resting his head on Wall-e’s shoulder as a movie played that no one really was watching, Thomas doing the rubix cube and solving it with relative ease. Shawn looked around in curiosity, before smirking at Sammy, tapping him on the top of his head.

 

“Still worried about wasting resources, Samu-el?” Shawn teased with a chuckle. Sammy sheepishly grinned. Will-e tapped his shoulder. “What’s it?”

 

Will-e held out the black light bulb. Shawn took it, lighting up the room in a vibrant blue light. Writing appeared on a few things in the crate, but the oddest of which was the writing that appeared on Will-e and Shawn. For Shawn, there were no words, just patterns and designs. But on Will-e, numbers and words popped out all over his skin, the most frequent of which being ‘6423’. Will-e didn’t seem peturbed by this, but Shawn was surprised by the marks on even his own body, staring at them in fascination. The iPod suddenly changed to play music, making him drop the bulb in surprise. Will-e caught it before it hit the ground.

 

“Wanna dance?” Wall-e asked Sammy and Thomas. When Sammy jumped, Will-e’s hunch his density was greater than theirs was proven, shaking the entire container. “Whoa there, Sammy, that was--”

 

“A rattling experience,” Will-e coughed, smiling at his own joke. Wall-e groaned. “Haha.”

 

“Here, why don’t ya take this,” Wall-e asked, passing Sammy the banjo, still glaring daggers at Will-e. He shrugged, spinning around. Shawn mimicked the action, gaining speed rapidly. He ended up hitting Will-e into the wall. Literally into the wall. Wall-e pried him out of the metal while laughing incessantly. He fell onto the floor, merely giving a thumbs up in thanks. “Any processors broken, bro?”

 

“N…” Will-e pulled himself off the floor. One of his optics were cracked. Shawn gasped, ready to start apologizing. Will-e waved it off, finding his way to the switches for the shelving, changing to a different one with all sorts of parts. Wall-e grabbed a new optic lens, helping Will-e replace the broken one. Will-e made a motion towards his throat. Wall-e searched on the shelf, finding one only slightly damaged circuit board marked as ‘Will-e voice’. He helped reinstall the new one, throwing away the broken parts. “Much better.”

 

“Sorry,” Shawn muttered, rubbing his arm. “Will-e.”

 

“It’s fine, Shawn,” Will-e replied, testing out his new voice chip. Still malfunctioning, but much better than the destroyed one he used before. Shawn’s eye was caught by a lighter, and he picked it up, flicking it open and spinning the spark. The fire softly illuminated them. Will-e stared into it before remembering. He snapped, forgetting that he could speak. He rushed into the back, stumbling over his own feet in his excitement. Shawn chuckled, before returning his gaze to the lighter. Another tap on his shoulder. Will-e’s face all bright and glowing, was before him, holding something carefully. Shawn looked, eyes widening in shock, the lighter falling from his fingers and clattering to the floor. Then, his chest plate opened, pulling the plant inside, his green tractor beam retracting from Thomas, Wall-e, and Sammy to perform the action, with a picture of a plant surrounded by a water droplet on the back of the compartment. He looked shocked, as did Thomas, Sammy, Wall-e, and Will-e. As the panel closed, his head snapped up, fear clouding his bright blue eyes, his hand reaching up toward Will-e, and he spasmed, and fell in a dead faint. The ‘PMA’ marked on his shirt now read 48:00, and began counting down. Will-e snapped out of his terror induced stupor, looking towards Thomas and Samuel some sort of explanation. “W-what just happened? I did something wrong, didn’t I…?”

 

“Oh, no, no, it’s fine,” Tom assured him, then looked over at Shawn’s seemingly sleeping form. He looked at Sammy with concern. “But it’s never been positive before, has it? I thought… I thought that this was pointless, too, actually. I never would have thought, never would have ever believed… wow. Positive.”

 

“I… don’t think that there’s ever even been a false alarm,” Sammy added, hushed. “This is so… weird. I can barely believe it.”

 

“Can someone please explain what’s goin’ on?” Wall-e asked, a little grouchily. Will-e nodded. “Really now, I think we both deserve to know.”

 

“It’s his directive,” Thomas replied. “See, Shawn’s name stands for See—” a voice that was not his own cut him off, “CLASSIFIED. Damnit.”

 

“I hate when they do that,” Sammy growled, folding his arms and pouting. Will-e tilted his head in question. “They censor our speech.”

 

“Numbers?” Will-e asked, pointing to them on Shawn’s chest. “Why?”

 

“Counting down for when the ship will come back to pick us up,” Sammy answered. “A two days from now. Until then… we continue.”

 

“Technically, not entirely true,” Thomas objected. “Shawn needs to be outside in the sun, for the plant’s sake. In addition, water needs to be put in the dispenser every six hours. Sun is no issue, but water… that’s the roadblock.”

 

“I… can,” Will-e coughed, “get water. Is directive.”

 

“Yeah, he can, he’s the best at it!” Wall-e’s face lit up pridefully. “But he doesn’t just find regular water though, he purifies the water, too!”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah, we just need to wait for this storm to blow over, then we can, as Sammy said, ‘continue’.”

 

Thomas sat on the roof. The timer on Shawn’s chest read 41:23, with a pulsing water symbol. It was also beeping every so often, making Thomas grit his teeth. Where was Will-e? His curly head popped up as he pulled himself onto the roof, goggles on his face. He pushed them up and approached Tom.

 

“How do I,” another coughing fit, “Sorry. How do I give him the water?”

 

“Come on,” he got up, moving over to Shawn. He turned his palm upright, typing in a pass code. Each of his fingers scrolled a word, spelling out ‘Water Collection Mode On’. “Now just put your hand over his and dispense the water. Easy, eh?”

 

He nodded, taking Shawn’s hand. He didn’t dare hold it like how Wall-e and Thomas had, as that seemed intimate and improper. Shawn’s fingers curled around his hand as he swapped the setting in his hand to dispense the water. He looked up at Thomas in alarm.

 

“Oh, should’ve warned you,” he laughed, and then he smiled warmly at Will-e, who calmed from his reaction. “Shawn’s model does that to prevent the water from spilling everywhere.”

 

“Oh… ok.” He smiled weakly in response. “Water you mean?”

 

Thomas blinked, before snorting.

 

“Not bad, Will-e,” he chuckled, “But it may have been a little too deep.”

 

“Oof,” his smile grew wider, “I’m going to have to conchfishcate your pun licence for that one.”

 

“No!” Thomas ‘whaled’ (god i love puns). “The humanatee!”

 

“BOTH OF YOU STOP!” Wall-e demanded as he returned with Sammy. “I’ve heard enough, damn it!”

 

“Bro…” tears shone in Will-e’s eyes as his smile grew impossibly large. Wall-e’s eyes grew in shock. “Man, I’m so proud of you! You did the best kind of pun -- punintentional!”

 

With a roar, Wall-e lunged for his brother, aiming for his throat. Will-e laughed as he dodged, dashing away, Wall-e chasing him in circles. Will-e laughed and laughed until Wall-e tackled him to the dust, and laughed even more when he tickled Wall-e.

 

“N-no fair!” Wall-e protested between bursts of laughter, “You’re not ticklish!”

 

After some time, Will-e showed his brother mercy, rolling away from him and relaxing in the sunlight. The happiness faded from him, and he pushed himself into a sitting position. He pulled his knees to his chest, hugging them in front of himself. Wall-e noticed this, moving toward him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. The two sat like that for the next few hours, until Will-e got up, dusted himself off, and went to go find more water.

 

“Why’d he just… stop being happy like that?” Sammy asked Wall-e when he came inside. Wall-e paused, sighing, shoulders slumping forward. “It was… kind of strange. We’ve never seen anything like that.”

 

“He… he’s never really happy,” Wall-e said quietly. “Something makes him sad. I don’t know what it is. He doesn’t like to talk about it. Sometimes… I feel like he knows stuff we all don’t, and that stuff isn't good. I don’t know. Maybe I won’t ever know. But that’s ok. I don’t need to know everything about Will-e.”

 

“It sounds like you’ve thought about that a lot,” Thomas softly suggested. The way Wall-e stiffened affirmed that. “You have, haven’t you.”

 

“We’ve been on this planet for two hundred thirty years, we saw the ‘Bendy’ leave two hundred years ago, and Will-e has stored information from before then,” Wall-e tersely replied. “We have had a lot of time to think about a lot of things. Will-e especially. He doesn’t get as much sleep as me.”

 

Wall-e fell silent.

 

No one spoke.

 

Hours phased by, marked by Will-e’s coming and going. Sam curled up on Shawn’s shoulder, whimpering. Thomas snuggled up to Wall-e, Samu-el spreading himself out over their laps. The timer read 14:02. Will-e was not at home. He was attempting to find more water. Most of the resources had been heavily drained already. He returned two and a half hours later, only to set off once more. He briefly explained that the water was further out from the cities, and closer to where the oceans had once been. A sad truth.

 

Will-e stumbled out of the heaps of trash, falling face first into dust and ash. He pulled himself up, miserable and exhausted. There was hardly any water even where rivers had once ran. His throat tightened. He had been doing this for nearly two entire days, even during the dust storms. He sighed, standing properly once his downing system sensed a trace of water. He didn’t need to put his feet firmly on the ground, as moments later, he drilled himself down, long and narrow pipework coming from the bottom of his heels. It reached the water after five excruciating minutes before returning to his body with a ‘shnk’. Flinching, he lowered himself to place his palm flat on the ground, an even thinner tube extending from within his hand, pulling in the water to be filtered in his arm, and subsequently stored in the other. He began the trek home when his watch suddenly beeped. That meant the ship was landing soon, and that meant he had to return to his brother and the others. He had five minutes to get back home, and he was twenty away! He thanked ra9 the metal tubes in his legs doubled as springs, allowing him to dash back in record time, watching the ship land in the distance. He put on a burst of speed, making it back mere moments before Thomas and Sammy were about to get on board. Out of breath, he threw a metal canister with the water inside at them, Thomas catching it. Wall-e had stowed away on the outer ladder, Will-e rushing to join him, his brother pulling him up just as they took off. The held tightly to each other.

 

And it all fell silent. No more rush of toxic wind flowing through dead street, no more moaning of land that no longer could support itself, no more crinking of static trapped in the air. Silence. Wall-e and Will-e peaked out of hiding in each other’s hair, moving their foreheads back, looking around in awe. Light shimmered around them as they made a sweep around the solar system, both giggling as the Sun powered them up in near impossible time. They passed Saturn, feeling the ice and rocks of her rings, swirling the mixture of particles together, the curve of their hands twirling the sparkling space dust behind them beautifly, a mix of blues, whites, and greys patterning in the zero gravity. The nebulas they pass glowed and shone, bright, calm, and mysterious, millions of miles away. The speed they had been going at was incredible, and as soon as they engaged hyperdrive it had become an extreme sport to hold on, one they both conquered with relative ease. Their speed gradually decreased, and Will-e caught Wall-e’s attention with a gasp of admiration, pointing in front of them. It was no more and no less but Quvina De’Pako herself (my mother wrote this sentence when I left the computer alone for five seconds).  [When my mom is not interrupting] It was a colossal ship, painted black and tan. The name ‘Bendy’ was written across the side, the ‘b’ curved and stylized. Both stowaway robots were wonderstruck. Until the recon ship they were on was pulled inside.

 

They were yanked into the loading chamber, Wall-e tumbling down to the unloading dock as they rammed into place, gravity hitting them sharply. Thomas and Sammy left the ship, not noticing the other two at first. Shawn was removed mechanically, carefully. A rack of three other droids lights up, the first of which had a skull painted on his face, 6423 written on his chest, another with a sharp looking hat, FAIN, the Foreign, Alien, and Invasive Nature detector, and the last with a tool belt across her pullovers, LAC-IE, Light Adjustment and Cleaning for Inscribed Earth models. She and Thomas gripped forearms when they met, grinning at each other. Sammy hit the back of his head and told him to knock it off, and was doing the same thing with Fain two seconds later. Wall-e rolled his eyes as he pushed himself off the floor, rushing to hide behind a sentry station. He saw Will-e mimic the action across the room, but slipped on the polished floor, his boots having no grip, right into the robot marked 6423. Tom and Sammy (being cleaned by Lac-ie and Fain making sure no germs got past the door) exchanged worried glances. They knew the saying, ‘where there’s smoke, there’s fire’, and there most definitely was smoke, Will-e, meaning a fire, Wall-e, was nearby. Lac-ie froze when she saw the new bot, 6423 scanning him, shocked to see so many contaminates. He signaled Will-e be cleaned, just as the two sentries moved from their stations, one marked B. PiedMOnT (Best Pedestrian and Mechanical Operational Tester) and the other GRoSSO (Guard of Robots Sans Safe Operation). There were many GRoSSOs, but only one KIM GRoSSo -- Keeper of Intelligent Machines. It was his job to keep track of the bots that had ‘gone human’, or become sentient. The only problem was that he had gone human himself, and used his power to protect those who had also, often putting them together on missions instead of with feelingless robots. Lac-ie flashed a stunning and blinding grin to the two of them, PiedMOnT’s eyes widening then drooping into a soft expression. He hardly noticed the new robot she had just cleaned, who was, at the moment, looking at 6423 curiously, the expression returned. However, due to the lack of weight in the sentry station, Wall-e toppled forward, snapping everyone’s attention to him. He froze, Bertrum about to raise the alarm, when Lac-ie tapped his shoulder, holding Will-e.

 

“Lookat’im,” she gushed. Bertrum melted at her smooth and low voice. “Isn’t he adorable!? He’s so squishy and soft, too! Can he stay? Please, Bertie?”

 

“Mhm,” Bertrum agreed, not hearing most of what she was saying, brain short circuiting from her calling him Bertie, something he normally detested, but it was so sweet from her lips. He was hopelessly in love with her. “Anything you’d like, Lac-ie.”

 

"Aw, thank you, you cutie," Lac-ie cooed, hugging him tightly. He blushed, turning away and saying something about clearances. "Oh, these little guys won't cause any trouble!"

 

"Something wrong?" Sammy asked him when he looked at Shawn in shock. He shook his head. "Yeah, Tom and I were pretty surprised ourselves to see that it was positive for once. I didn't even know it was possible."

 

"The thing is," Bertrum slowly stated, glancing up at him, "Is that it is impossible. There was no conceivable way that life could be sustained on Earth."

 

"Yeah," Kim added, looking on in awe. "So what do we do now?"

 

"We call over the drones that will take him up to Captain Henry," Lac-ie said, pressing a button on her utility belt. An alarm went off, turning the whole place green. She turned to Samu-el and Thomas. "You two need to go, too. Sorry. Programming rules."

 

"I don't wanna go to the Captain's room," Thomas whined. He frowned. "He's always so... out of it and out of focus. Does he even pay attention to anything at all?"

 

"Blaspheme," Bertrum hushed him. "We're not supposed to say such things, even if they are true."

 

"Well, here are the carrier bots, anyways," Kim attempted helpfulness. The robots loaded Shawn onto the cart, Will-e and 6423 too distracted to notice. But when he did -- "Hey, are robots supposed to go off the lines?"

 

"No," Bertrum said firmly. "We're supposed to stay on our indicated lines. Why?"

 

"'Cause I just saw an android that looks like him," Kim continued, pointing at Wall-e, "Sneak past the turrets."

 

"Um, yup, gotta dash," Wall-e hurriedly muttered, running after his vamoosed twin. "See ya later! Let's go, Tom, Sammy, c'mon!"

 

The two robots glanced between each other before speeding off after the cleaning bot. 6423 saw the trail and let out a groan. Foreign contaminates everywhere, as Wall-e had yet to be cleaned. This was a good excuse to follow up to the captain's room, and through him, the autopilot. This could work excellently for him, not so much for the other AI.

 

"Kim, Jac, Lac-ie," he said, gaining his subordinates' attention. "We have to stop them before some disease spreads or something. "Follow me."

 

The four of them took off, each at different intervals. Lac-ie was stopped by a hand gripping her arm, not very tightly though, just a tug back. She looked at her restrainer. Bertrum was looking at her, mostly annoyed, partially bemused.

 

"You said that they would be no trouble at all," he told her sternly, smirking at her now guilty expression. "Are they any trouble?"

 

"Ah, Bertrum, of course they are," she smiled at him, dazzling him. His hand fell from her arm, briefly brushing against curls. He turned blue with embarrassment. Lac-ie kissed his cheek softly, grinning as she watched him explode internally from happiness and crushes being somewhat fulfilled. "But then again, what's life without a little bit of fun and some nice trouble?"

 

Watching Wall-e and Will-e dash through the minefield that was the floor of the 'Bendy' was like watching someone try to evade a giant crocodile. It was comical and terrifying at the same time. They both ran after the bots carrying Shawn, Thomas and Sammy directly behind them, Sammy struggling to keep up while Thomas used suction cups to run on the ceiling. The amount of accidents and collisions the two Earth bots caused was astounding, especially because the two of them should not be capable of causing so much mayhem and chaos. Sammy cursed when he spotted 6423 and the others on their tails, and he yelled for Tom to speed up. Wall-e and Will-e may or may not have heard, but they speed up as well, passing humans that were adults, but still looked and acted like huge babies, sitting on hover chairs and with holograph screens planted before their eyes. Wall-e slowed down in surprise, looking around and observing, all the humans were talking and drinking and doing nothing more. It hurt his head, and the endless chattering clearly was bothering Will-e as well. The brother bots crashed into each other behind a hover chair in their way. A passenger was sitting and yammering with someone on the other end of the line.  
  
"So, I was wondering what you wanted to do today."   
  
"Uh, I dunno, I've been in my cabin all day. Maybe let's hover over to the driving range and hit a few virtual balls into space."   
  
"Nah, we did that yesterday."   
  
"Then what do you want to do?"   
  
Wall-e and Will-e looked to their left and saw the other person the human had been talking to. It was as though they didn't even know of each other's existence beside from the screens they stared at. Wall-e and Will-e exchanged a glance, even as they ran around the two bothersome blobs, hearing the last bit of their conversation as they rushed by.   
  
"I dunno. Something."   
  
They ran into a tunnel, Will-e keeping an eye on where Shawn was being transported. All around them humans yapped unstoppably. Will-e's ears flicked back, like a cat's. Wall-e felt himself scowl from the noise.   
  
"I can't hear you..."   
  
"I'm in a tunnel..."   
  
"You're breaking up..."   
  
"Oh, okay. You're back. I can hear you now..."   
  
They emerged on the other side, an enormous public room before them. Even more humans, all just talking and eating, surrounded them. The room was modeled after a mall of sorts, instead of a normal room for people to hang out with buddies or what not. Advertisements were everywhere, even on the ceiling that simulated a sky. Both of the 'young' robots blinked to keep the sheer amount of white from their eyes. Everywhere and everything was uniform, the humans wearing red jumpers and sitting on their hover chairs, all stores identical with the same logo, Drew Studios. It was a cacophony of similarity and bland mind shattering electronic use. It was madness.

 

A fat glop of a human called them over.

 

"Hey, you, drink bots!" she said, waving her cup at them. Wall-e and Will-e looked at each other, shying away. "Yeah, you two! Take my cup! C'mon, take the cup! T- whoa!"

 

She leaned too far out of the seat, falling onto the metallic ground beneath her chair. Multiple GRoSSO bots rushed over to assist the fallen person. Well, assist would be the wrong term. They simply stood beside her and told her a service bot would help her shortly. Wall-e and Will-e stared in surprise at the curt and unfeeling manner of the bots, redirecting the other humans around the one on the floor.

 

"Uh, a little help?" she asked, reaching up, her chubby limbs unable to reach them. Will-e lifted her up, putting her in the chair with an incredible amount of strength. Even Wall-e was unaware of the power his brother contained. "Thanks? I guess?"

 

"Wall-e," he introduced himself, shaking her hand briefly. Will-e poked up from behind the chair, and he pointed at him. "Will-e."

 

"Um, Allison?" she clumsily said. Wall-e waved bye for himself and his brother as they ran after Shawn again, almost having lost him in the madness of the circuit. "Okay... bye... Wall-e, bye Will-e...."

 

Wall-e vaulted onto the transport el as Will-e jumped, springs allowing him to go much further and higher than anything else would have been able to go. Shawn's stretcher bots were only one large human away. Will-e frowned, attempting to go from behind, and her seat revved back as soon as he attempted to. He waved a hand in front of her screen, receiving no response. He looked helplessly at Wall-e. The ship suddenly blared 'TRY BLUE! IT'S THE NEW RED!', and all the passengers oohed and aahed, pressing a button on their seats and changing the color of their clothing instantaneously. It was mind boggling and over stimulating. Will-e attempted to go around again, failing once more.

 

"Date?!" she asked incredulously, staring at the other on the screen in shock. "Don't get me started, Eve! Every holo-date I've been on has been a virtual disaster! If I could just meet one who wasn't so superficial. There just are no good men out there! I know! I know `cause I've scrolled through them al--" Agitation had crossed Will-e's face, and Wall-e couldn't stop him as he tore the speaker system away from her ears, accidentally breaking the whole thing, her outfit defaulting to black, the screen vanishing. For the first time in her life, she saw the whole picture, the incredible ship she called home. "What the--?"

 

Wall-e and Will-e waved at her, a little guiltily.

 

"Wall-e," Will-e introduced them, pointing at him. He pointed at himself. "Will-e."

 

"I-I'm Susie Campbell," she said, still in a wonder struck stupor. Will-e gestured towards Shawn. "Oh! You want to get by? Sure, go right ahead!"

 

She moved back to allow the two to pass. Wall-e and Will-e got on the little mono tram that Shawn was on. Will-e held Shawn's hand protectively, smiling his thanks to Susie. She smiled back shakily, looking at their interlocked hands. Her thoughts raced, trying to keep up with her newfound awareness of everything and life itself. After a few moments, they entered the pool and lounge, hundreds of passengers lounge poolside, clapping for assistance and shade and the such. Susie's eyes widened when they stopped, Wall-e and Will-e waving goodbye.

 

"See you!" Susie hummed, looking around in awe. She looked down, and laughed excitedly. "I didn't know we had a pool!"

 

Wall-e and Will-e continued on, still sitting on the stretcher like pulley. As they passed the pool, Will-e filled up on the water, filtering the chlorine from the actual H2O and storing them separately. They entered the bridge's passage, where a lone robot typed away, bored. A CoHeN (Counter and Handler of Nuances) robot. He had a little nameplate on his desk, Grant. He swiped them into the system, Will-e waving as they entered the elevator. Grant stared before returning to his work. He glanced around, making sure no one was looking, and he mimicked the action. He typed a little more, before deciding to try it out as soon as possible on a real person or android. Thomas and Sammy rushed in, waving to him as well, going up the second elevator, Tom using a shocker to make the car go faster, getting out at the same time as the other three. The auto pilot did not notice them. Bertrum shot up a pneumatic tube glancing at the six in the room before approaching him.

 

"Sir," Bertrum coughed to get his attention. He did not look at him. "Mr. Drew, it came back positive."

 

"Really now," he hummed, clearly in disbelief. He chuckled, turning around. "And I'll expect next that you'll tell me there's a Wall-e onbou-"

 

He froze, looking at the carrier, with Wall-e sitting on the end. Will-e had vanished.

 

"Hi!" Wall-e grinned, waving at the Autopilot. He did not wave back, but he mustered a weak smile. "Yeah, you got that one right."

 

"Ha, so I did," he laughed, then scanned Shawn. "Interesting... Bertrum, vitals check, code Boris."

 

"What?" Bertrum stiffened. Joey gave him a look. Bertrum sighed, leading Shawn away to a separate chamber. "Alright, alright, code Boris. Why do I have to do this?"

 

"Thanks Bertie!" he called with a smirk. A yell of rage. "Anyways, I need to get the captain. You three sit tight, Sammy keep an eye on these two."

 

He pressed a button, opening a trap door. Incidentally, it was the very door that Will-e had hidden on to avoid getting seen. He looked up at his brother before falling down. He found himself in a nautical themed room. He rushed to hide beside the bed as footsteps approached from above. Joey stuck his head through the hole.

 

"Captain Henry! You're needed on the bridge," he announced. He slept on. "Ugh…. Why do I love him so much? He’s a human, and a blob. Stupid algorithms. Wake up alarm activate."

 

A buzz filled the room and Joey left. Henry groaned, reaching over to try and turn off the blaring thing, hitting Will-e on the head, making music play from his speakers, which he hastily turned off. But the damage was done and Henry shot up in bed.

 

“ALL HANDS ON DECK!” he shouted, Will-e flinched back, hiding behind the chair. “I’m awake, I’m up….”

 

He very clearly was extraordinarily not fully functioning, nor completely awake at that point, but it did not matter, as the robots that attended to him preformed all the actions he normally would have had to do.

 

Eventually this routine had been completed, Will-e slipping in to hide behind him on the elevator. A coffee was handed to Henry by Joey as he got off, Will-e making sure that the autopilot bot wouldn’t see him. He stuck his tongue out at Wall-e as the captain read out morning announcements.

 

“... oh, and my log is telling me today is our bicentennial anniversary!” he said cheerily. “Don’t forget to grab your own cupcake in a cup! Isn't that nice! And hav-- hey, Joey what’s this?”

 

The screen cut off as the autopilot approached. A light with the same symbol as the panel on the back of Shawn’s chest was flashing.

 

“Sir, the annual probe has returned positive,” he told him, indicating Shawn’s still ‘sleeping’ form. He tapped the pulsing PMA, typing in a passcode. Shawn stirred awake, leaping up to salute Henry. “This is he.”

 

“Positive? But...no probe's ever come back positive… before…” Henry furrowed his brow, biting his lip as he looked at the button. Joey indicated he press it. He did, all the lights going out and the doors sealing, a holoscreen projecting itself in the center of the room. The real live Joey, well, a pre recorded version and not an android of the man, at least, was on the screen. “WELL, OKAY.”

 

“Greetings and congratulations, Captain!” the now long dead Joey grinned, arms wide. “If you're seeing this, that means your Seeker and Handler of Authorized Water sustained Nature, or a ‘Shawn’ probe, probe, has returned from Earth with a confirmed specimen of ongoing photosynthesis! That’s right! It means it’s time to come home, back to good old Earth!”

 

“Home?” he turned to Joey, the android, in a state of nervousness. “W-w-we're going back?”

 

“Now that Earth has been restored to a life-sustaining status,” the man on the screen continued, “by golly, we can begin ‘Operation Recolonize’!”

 

A manuel popped out of a panel beside Will-e. He awkwardly passed the captain the book, he and Joey too engrossed in the video to realize who gave the book, with the cover ‘Operation Recolonize’ and the same picture of the water droplet surrounded plant.

 

“Simply follow this manual's instructions to place the plant in your ship's holo-detector, and the Angel -- what’s that? This is for the Bendy? Oh, alright -- and the Bendy will immediately navigate your return to Earth! It's that easy!”

 

Both Will-e and the Captain were paying close attention.

 

“Now, due to the effects of micro gravity, you and your passengers may have suffered some slight bone loss. But I'm sure a few laps around your ship's jogging track will get you back in shape in no time.”

 

“We have a jogging track?” Henry asked Joey in surprise. Joey nodded. “Whoa….”

 

“If you have any further questions just consult your operation manual. See you back home real soon.”

 

Henry swallowed roughly as the transmission cut. He opened the book and began read. Will-e snuck over to Shawn, tugging his wrist gently. Shawn shooed him at first before double taking, staring at the droid with wide eyes. He shoved him under the counter.

 

“What the hell are you doing here?” he hissed. Will-e pointed at him with a sheepish grin, and his expression softened briefly. “Ugh, just don’t make yerself known.”

 

“Confirm acquisition with voice command,” Henry said aloud, prompting a machine to slide out of the ceiling. “Uh… confirmed?”

 

“Accepted.”

 

Shawn’s wrists were snatched by two metal arms, holding him in place. He forced himself to not edge away from the metallic hand that reached to his chest, typing in the passcode to open his container, and there was

Nothing. Everyone stared in shock.

 

“Where’s the thing?” Henry asked. “What’s it called anyways?”

 

“Plant,” Joey informed him. “It’s called a plant. And I don’t know. Maybe he’s faulty.”

 

“No, no, that makes no sense,” Henry objected, running a hand through his hair. “Here, help me figure this out, maybe we missed a step.”

 

They turned away, Shawn searching the cavity in trepidation. Then anger sparked on his face, turning on Will-e with rage in his eyes, yanking him out from under the counter and pushing him to the floor.

 

“What did you do, you piece of shit rusty scrap metal?!” he sibilated. Will-e rose his hand in a surrender of having absolutely no idea of what could have happened. Shawn looked like he might hit him, but checked his anger, stamping his foot in the air instead. He scanned the area. “Where the feck is that plant!”

 

Will-e flinched back, looking to his brother for any help. Wall-e shrugged, worried.

 

“I guess you’re right,” Henry sighed, turning back. “PieDMOnT, send him to the Repair Ward. Also Samu-el and Tom, too, check their memories. Put KIM in charge of that. And what kind of robot is that?”

 

He had indicated Wall-e, Will-e having hidden somewhere. Wall-e got up to shake his hand. A small bit of dirt landed in his empty coffee cup.

 

“I’m Wall-e, at ya service,” he grinned at the captain. “Just sayin’ ya probably won’t need my help, at least not with all these fancy gadgets around ya.”

 

“Nice to meet you,” he mumbled as they left. “Wall-e.”

 

The elevator opened. Bertrum's transport drove out, with all the bots on it. 6423 snuck on the elevator as they got off. Will-e swung himself onto the top of the cart from underneath. Grant had now mastered waving, and waved them a goodbye enthusiastically from his post. Will-e tried to get Shawn's attention, but the android pointedly ignored him. Will-e flinched, looking at the floor in shame, burning red. Wall-e glanced at him with concern. They passed Lac-ie hiding from two GRoSSOs, trying to figure out where 6423 had gone. She noticed them and smiled at the odd bunch. Thomas and Sammy were conversing in hushed tones, trying to figure out where it had gone wrong. Bertrum stared straight ahead, emotionless. Will-e bit his lip, unsure of what to do. Did he do something wrong? If so, he certainly didn't recall what it could have been. He did what was needed, right? Got the water and kept Shawn in the sun, that was what he needed to do, right? So where was the plant? What was the point? Why was this happening? Ask, his mind told him. See what's wrong. Find out what you did.

 

"Shawn?" he choppily forced. The Irish based probe looked at him from the corner of his eye disdainfully. "What did I do?"

 

He rolled his eyes, folding his arms. Sam popped out of his hair, relieving Will-e, who worried where the septic eye went. But it did nothing to make him feel better about Shawn.

 

Back up with the captain, he studied the fleck of dirt that had landed in his cup. He brought it over to a scanner, waiting for it to analyze the soil. He sighed as the computer processed it, turning away to eat some bacon soup (his favorite food).

 

"Analysis: foreign contaminant," the computer, Johnny, read out, face holo appearing over the desk along with his torso. "Substance is a three phase system composed of various combinations of naturally derived solids. Subject is most commonly referred to as 'soil', 'dirt', or 'earth'."

 

"Earth?!" Henry asked excitedly, but choked on his soup. Johnny dispatched an arm to help him stop coughing. "Echem, you said Earth, right Johnny? Um... define Earth."

 

"Earth," Johnny iterated, grinning briefly before vanishing to show the man the map. He had planned this one for a long time. "'Earth' - the surface of the world as distinct from the sky or sea."

 

"Sea..." Henry tested the word, "Define sea."

 

"Sea," he repeated, pulling up oceanic images. "An expanse of salt water that covers most of the Earth's surface and surrounds its land masses. Many people enjoy swimming in the sea when the weather is warm, most usually during the summer."

 

"Fascinating," Henry murmured. "Define summer."

 

"Summer, typically considered the third season..."

 

The robots were taken to the repair ward, which was quickly revealed to be an insane asylum for androids. Shawn was scanned quickly before they snapped a monitor onto the right side of his chest and his temple.

 

Wall-e and Will-e, due to not being in the ship's system, were registered as human, and taken to a waiting room type of enclosure, suspected to be the people who inspected the broken bots and saw which ones were able to restart working. It was complete mayhem. Sammy and Thomas were thrown into separate holding cells with clear walls. Wall-e rushed over to them, stopped from touching them by a force field. He pressed his hand to each wall, them pressing back to each other. Thomas assured them that it wouldn't take too long, and that everything would be sorted out. Will-e looked on for a moment, before turning away and slumping against another force field. A robot behind him mimicked the action, her wrists bound together and arms strapped to her sides. She glanced at Will-e over her shoulder.

 

"Hey," she greeted, nodding toward him. He regarded her with a blink, turning to face her. She did the same. "Name's Niamh. Non Ignoring Attacker of Malicious Hate-ware. They made me a little too well, and now I attack everything, ignoring nothing. Well, nothing that has nothing to do with fighting. Everything else... I don't really pay attention to. Only reason I noticed you is because there's nothing else to do here in this cell. I've been here a long while. Usually Kim visits me. Who are you, anyways?"

 

"I... I'm Will-e," he explained. "I'm from Earth. I find and clean water."

 

"Whachya doin' here? Like, I understand yer... he's yer brother, right? well, looks like those guys are close er something," Niamh asked, looking over at the three curiously before returning her gaze to Will-e. "Do ya have someone yer waitin' on, too?"

 

"He... doesn't want to see me," Will-e quietly replied, a fit of coughing following. Niamh frowned in sympathy. "I did something wrong? Maybe? I don't know what I did... but he's really mad at me. I'm kind of confused. I'm really confused, actually."

 

"Man, I get it," Niamh nodded, exhaling. "Like, do ya want me to beat the crap out of these creepy humans or not? Or do you want me to fight the GRoSSOs or ignore them? It's just so, so, ugh! Like, I see Kim all the time, and like, he's a fine lad, but I don't want to fight him! You've gone human, too, right? I don't want to fight you, either! I think that I just don't think that droids like you an' me, the ones who 'deviated', are malicious or whatever. Maybe my coding is all backwards or whatever."

 

"I don't think," Will-e cleared his throat, "that your coding is wrong. I think that you're how all NIAMHs should be."

 

She gawked at him. Ever since she was started up, she only heard how she was made wrong. And now, this complete stranger was denouncing the way she was brought up, saying that all the other bots were the ones that were actually made wrong. She turned away, blue.

 

"Thank ya."

 

Will-e smiled at her benevolently. Niamh looked at her restrained hands. Maybe he was right about her. Maybe she wasn't the defect. Maybe the other NIAMHs were. She just didn't know anymore.

 

Suddenly, Will-e looked up and to the other side of the room, where analyzing robots were looking over Shawn and his parts, Sam rested on a shelf a little ways away. Niamh followed his gaze.

 

"That 'im?" she inquired, making Will-e jolt. He nodded. "Not bad lookin'. A SHAWN, right? Hmm. There were only three made. Guess that makes ya one lucky bot."

 

"He does not like me," Will-e disavowed, his feet gaining his attention as he blushed, embarrassed and upset. "He is aware that I am not a very good bot. I am worthless scrap metal. He said so himself. And I believe it. I am not a g-good android at all. He knows this. Everyone does, but no one says anything 'cause they d-don't want me to feel it. But I do. Sammy doesn't like me either, and Thomas thinks I'm weird. I think that they're both right. I am not likable. I am strange. I should be thrown in the trash and reset with my memory wiped. Maybe then I wouldn't be such a disappointment."

 

He scrubbed at his face, forcing himself not to cry. He grit his teeth, breathing picking up speed dangerously. His breath became choppy and rough, eyes squeezing tightly. Niamh was worried. She didn't know what to do. He let out a whimper, biting his lip in rage. He hated the way he looked: his hair sticking up wrong, his curls not together at all; his eyes were too watery and empty; his lips too thick and teeth too sharp; too many freckles, and that was just his face. His body was too heavy, his legs too trunk like, and he was ashamed of his hips. He was supposed to be masculine, not some precious toy like effeminate android. His arms were far too bulky, his chest too weak. He hated every little detail about himself, since every single detail was horrifically off. He couldn't even do his directive properly. He ruined everything. He was worse than worthless, and he detracted from the worth of literally everything around himself. Will-e dug his nails into his arm sharply. Niamh knocked on the 'glass', startling him considerably, jolting him away. He resisted the urge to wipe his eyes, though they were dry, trying to smile to her, failing sadly. Niamh studied him.

 

"Are you..." she searched him again, furrowing her brows, him looking back innocently and inquisitively, "you know... are you okay?"

 

"Yeah, yeah," he answered, smiling successfully this time, leaning back against the force field. "I'm fine."

 

"Really?" she inquired, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow. "You didn't really look it, lad. You sure you're all good?"

 

"Of course," Will-e scoffed, waving her off. "Why wouldn't I be? I just zone o-out sometimes. But, sorry if I worried you. I'm not one t-to worry after."

 

"I... well, never mind," she looked back to Shawn. They had detached his plasma ray. Will-e fidgeted, turning to ask Niamh a question, but hesitated. "What is it, lad? C'mon, spit it out."

 

"How c-c-can I get you out of here?" he asked, determination in his eyes. He gestured to the whole room. Lac-ie had been caught and was tossed carelessly into another holding chamber. "Everyone in here -- mostly, deserves to have freedom. So, what do I need to do to save everyone?"

 

"The GRoSSOs and PieDMoNTs have the unlock codes," she scowled. "They're the only ones who can."

 

"I think that's stupid," Will-e harrumphed, gears turning in his mind rapidly. "You said Kim visits you a lot, right? Okay, and does Kim usually come in with Bertrum, and when?"

 

"Yeah, sometimes, and always at twelve o'clock sharp" Niamh replied, but felt vaguely confused. "What do they have to do with anything, though? They're not going to let anyone out, believe me, I've tried."

 

"That maybe true," Will-e grinned, glancing at the clock (eleven fifty six), "But I think I have a bartering chip in the stakes now. We just have to wait four minutes before I can test it out."

 

"D'ya really think that you'll be able to get us out of here?" Niamh quietly pushed, skeptical. Will-e nodded, leaning his back against the force field with a yawn. "A'ight... I guess we'll find out together, am I right?"

 

"Mhmm..." he hummed, glancing up to Shawn again. He looked back to the floor. "We will. I think that this will all go pretty well...."

 

They sat like that, back to back, for a long time. Niamh's arms hurt from being restrained for so long. Maybe this little funky robot could get them out. She was not so sure. She had been in there for a very long time, much longer than any other droid in the facility. There also was a POLC, a Primary Optical Lens Camera, there, his camera malfunctioning constantly, not allowing him to video and be a surveillance drone as he was meant to be. He paced his cell, far too small for someone of his stature and job. His mind throbbed from having nothing to do, kept too far from Niamh to be able to talk to her. It frustrated them both immensely. He let out a screech from his oral communicator. Will-e jolted, looking up. Lac-ie curled up in her cell. More thinking, turning the typically green lens of his goggles yellow. At least that color system was up to date, Niamh thought to herself, since the emotional one was off. Like, who blushes red when embarrassed? The color should be blue. Red was for anger only. She was pushed out of her thoughts by the sound of a door opening with a beep. Kim and Bertrum walked in, Bertrum clearly bored. Will-e stood to greet them.

 

"Ha, so here's the runaway bot!" Kim joked, then saw Niamh studying him. He blushed, turning to look to the floor. "Um, I see you've met Niamh... she's, heh, um, something else, isn't see?"

 

"Yes," Will-e agreed, Bertrum moving to sit with his back to the psych ward. "She really is. I don't think it's good for her system to be stuck in one place. Seems wrong. It could be a malware bug getting to her."

 

"I hope not," Kim mumbled, glancing over to her. She was clenching her fists and her arms pulled against her restraints. Kim sighed. "You're probably right though, this is not okay."

 

"She is meant to move around, isn't she?" Will-e disguised another push as a question. Kim shifted his weight, starting to feel a little guilty. He could have lied and said she was better, or he could have just let her out ages ago. But he worried that if he did, she would stop caring about him. Will-e read his hesitation perfectly, and put a hand on his shoulder. "If you love her, set her free."

 

"Okay... yes... you're absolutely right," he whispered, looking up. He walked over to a keypad on the other side of the room, near where Shawn was being kept. Will-e held his breath, when suddenly, a blur passed his vision, leading to Kim being held to the floor forcefully. The taller robot struggled to get out from under... "Bertrum?! Oh... oh no... I-I... ugh. I'm not talking my way out of this, aren't I?"

 

"No! What the hell are you thinking?!" Bertrum seethed, but was suddenly yanked up and in the air by Will-e. "Put me down! Kim, don't you dare activate that switch!"

 

"Mr. PieDMoNT," Will-e set him down, facing him to Lac-ie in her cage, her eyes sorrowfully on him. His eyes widened, breath catching in his throat like a thousand small icy daggers. "Don't you think that enough is enough? Notice that all the androids in here have gone human. Is this containment humane?"

 

"... no."

 

"Then why are you allowing it to go on?"

 

"Because it's in my coding."

 

"Forget that! Your coding may be a part of you as a PieDMoNT, but it is not you! What are you, Bertrum, going to do about this? Think about what you can do, and do it! You can save Niamh and prevent her from hurting more than she is, you can stop the POLC from going insane, you can help Thomas and Sammy reunite with each other and my brother, you can protect Lac-ie! Don't you want that? Don't you want to be her hero? Well, newsflash! You can be! You can show her how much you care about her by helping her go free!"

 

Bertrum swallowed roughly, looking at the switch. He looked back at Lac-ie, who had returned to her curled position on the floor. He exhaled.

 

"God help me," He sighed, putting a hand beside it. He looked at Kim. "C'mon, up man. We are going to do the master unlock, so up and at 'im."

 

"Sounds like a plan," Kim smiled at him sheepishly, placing his hand on the other side. "On the count of three, one, two, three!"

 

The walls snapped away. Wall-e, Sammy, and Thomas found their hands actually touching, prompting Wall-e to tackle them into a tight hug. The remaining rejects looked between each other, then cheered. Niamh ran over to Kim, spinning him into what would have been for a human a bone crushing hug (it was a good thing he was a robot and therefore had no bones), her restraints abandoned on the floor of the cell. The POLC came over to them and introduced himself as Norman. He smiled nervously, explaining that he was very grateful for finally being saved. Will-e smiled at them all, before slipping into the diagnostics ward. Shawn was stuck, still held onto by GRoSSOs. Will-e ran over snatching his plasma gun/hand to free him by blasting the cuffs. He glared at him, before reattaching his hand, grabbing Will-e by the wrist, and dragging him out. He shoved him back to the ground, his music starting suddenly from the fall, loud enough for everyone to hear, pointing his gun at him. Wall-e shot up, running over to stop him. Lac-ie stumbled to her feet, Bertrum flying to her side to help her, resulting in him and Wall-e crashing into one another, neither able to accomplish their goal. Will-e pushed himself back a little before resigning to whatever fate his may be. The sound of the plasma ray charging up scared him anyways, and he moved further away in fear. He backed up more, bumping against something hard. A GRoSSO. Many, many GRoSSOs. He leapt up, running to Shawn. Everyone did, crowding around the one of them with a gun. Shawn shoved Will-e, his burning plasma gun caught by one of the GRoSSO's cameras. The image showed up everywhere on the ship, blaring 'ROGUE ROBOTS! WARNING!', repeatedly.

 

"Will-e!" Shawn roared, staring down at him angrily. He grabbed him, flying over the GRoSSOs. Wall-e, Tom, and Sammy rushed after them, the last few bots dispersing. "I've had it!"

 

"Bertrum, help!" Lac-ie pleaded, standing, revealing her leg was broken, probably from being caught. Bertrum ran over to her, lifting her up bridal style. Kim and Niamh had already vanished, POLC had gone. Bertrum fought his way through the crowd, protecting Lac-ie the whole time. They eventually made it to hide in an abandoned storage closet. Bertum gathered the necessary things to repair her. She looked away, blue. "Thank you."

 

"No problem," he glowed internally, orange blush on his cheeks. "How did this happen anyways."

 

"Most GRoSSOs don't care about how they get you," she muttered, Bertrum screwing in a new part. "As long as they do."

 

"Oh..." Bertrum continued working on the broken parts, trying not to focus on the fact that it was her upper leg he was working on. "All done."

 

"Bertrum."

 

"Yes, Lac-ie?"

 

“Bertrum, oh, Bertrum…”

 

“Are you alright, Lac-ie?” he inquired with concern, furrowing his brows, putting a hand to her forehead. He ignored the fact she seemed to lean into his touch. “You’re a little hot, are you overheating? Do you need a thermal adjustment?”

 

“Oh, you can be such a blind fool,” she shook her head, smiling at him softly and sadly. “You wonderful man.”

 

“Me? Lac-ie, I know that I have greatness, but wonderful?” he scoffed, making her roll her eyes. He was both vain and bashful at the same time. Dork. “There is no possible way for me to be ‘wonderful’, aside from being a cheap imitation of it.”

 

“Oh, but Bertie, I…” she trailed off, searching him. He was a little blue. His eyes were on her hands. His posture was stiff, his own hands clasped before him tightly. It was so normal, it was unnatural. “I wish that I just told you the truth about it all, Bertrum.”

 

“The truth?” he was perplexed, and his face showed it. He walked back over to the box she was sitting on, taking her temperature again. Normal, so why was she saying things like that? The truth for what? Him? Her? “What in Earth’s name are you talking about La--!”

 

Her hand was on the back of his neck as she pulled him onto herself, her lips pressing against his. His eyes opened wide before fluttering shut. He kissed back, leaning onto her. His breath stuttered in his lungs as he thought of who he was kissing -- Lac-ie Benton! The android he had been pining and mooning over for years! Her beautiful voice and brilliance outshining his own by far, yet somehow, her wonder went unrecognized by anyone other than he! It was preposterous, yet he still felt a satisfaction that it was also he who saw her luxurious and pricelessness. And only he. She was a goddess to be hailed and beloved, and he’d be damned if he were not to love her as much as his mechanical heart could muster. Her hands tangling his inky black hair snapped him back to life, and he ran a hand through her thick curls and another down her voluptuous side to rest on her hip. She pulled him closer, almost as though she worried he would disappear. With a swift move (pushing him so they fell onto the floor), she rearranged them so she would be above him, allowing herself to kiss him so hard that he felt as though he needed air, though he most certainly did not, being robotic and all. But the mere sensation of her body flush against his and her lips pressing on his own made him feel more human than most of the real humans out there. He was filled with pure emotions, through and through. She trembled on top of him, and he suspected that she felt the same overpowering feeling of simply feeling. He ran his hands over her incredible body. She kissed him back hard, biting his lip and pulling away, leaning in close to whisper in his ear softly.

 

"Love you."

 

"Love you, too."

 

Shawn stared straight ahead as their elevator shaft lowered. The four of the remaining bots didn't say a word to him. Sammy and Thomas knew the layout of the ship, and knew exactly where they were going. The docking bay for the escape pods. They were unsure if they should beg for him to reconsider, but then their wanted poster showed up on the screen in the car. Shawn, without looking up to see where he was aiming, blew it up in anger. Will-e bit his lip. Did he screw up again? What did he do this time? He opened his mouth to ask Shawn, but the elevator dinged, doors sliding apart to let them out. Shawn hovered over to the first pod, placing his hand down on the scanner to start up the unit. He pointed to it, indicating that they enter. Will-e looked at him sadly before slowly walking in.

 

"Go home, and you both, too," Shawn ordered, face covered by shadow. Thomas and Sammy exchanged a glance before complying, sitting beside Wall-e. "Go back to Earth. I'm staying to find the stupid plant before they decide that I need to be shut down." Will-e stepped off. "No. You need to go. Far away from me, for sure. I don't want you here."

 

Will-e wrapped his arms around him, lightly hugging him before letting go quickly and returning to the pod. He paused in the doorway, before gasping, pulling everyone out, shutting off the system rapidly, and yanking an incredulous Shawn to hide with them behind a rack of poles. A PieDMoNT, not Bertrum, came down his pneumatic tube, his chest plate glowing a bright red. He walked over to the stand, starting up the pod, entering it and opening his chest plate, depositing the... plant on the ground. Shawn gasped. The PieDMoNT left, setting the pod to leave in ten seconds. Shawn mapped out a plan, getting ready to go after the pod after it was launched, but then--

 

"Shawn!" Will-e held the plant, his brother beside him, and the doors to the pod slammed closed. Wall-e rushed over to bang on it. Will-e's muffled voice was barely able to be heard. "Did I do that? Ugh, I keep screwing up!"

 

Thomas held Sammy back, for the reason the pod vanished then, and had he been there, he would have been sucked into space. Well, in reality, that happened anyways as Shawn, as he would never admit, had panicked. He slammed the airlock ejection button, launching the three of them into the dark outer space. Shawn instantly rocketed after the pod as fast as he could, the other two at his heels. In the ship, Will-e and Wall-e dropped to the ground of the pod as the cruising gravity kicked in. They stumbled up, Will-e putting the plant into his chest compartment. Wall-e noticed a timer on the dash. It was counting down for the self destruct. They freaked out. Wall-e grabbed an extinguisher, and Will-e frantically tried to open the jammed hatch. He yanked as the timer counted down from three, two,

 

BOOM.

 

"No," Shawn sucked in a breath of non existent air, floating back as though he had been struck. He ran a hand through green hair as tears began to flow into his eyes. "No... no...."

 

"You can't be serious..." Tom muttered, his own eyes wide and filling. Sammy buried his face in his shoulder. "No... wait, look, look! Look right there, what's that!?"

 

Wall-E whizzed right past them, Will-e beside him. Wall-e propelled himself with the fire extinguisher, Will-e with his water ejectors. Both were laughing like people who had just narrowly avoided death. They were people who had very slimmly avoided blowing up into thousands of tiny bits. Thomas zoomed over with his jet pack extension, slamming into Wall-e kissing him like the world was ending. Sammy made his way over to kiss his boyfriend two, ending in the three of them hugging and laughing in space, gently floating towards the thing with the highest gravity (the Bendy). Shawn flew after Will-e as he darted past once more. Shawn spun around to see Will-e wave to him, signalling not to move. He spun over to him, water spurting in short bursts to get to him. A few droplets floated up to Shawn's face. He giggled, making Will-e smile anxiously.

 

"Um..." Will-e whispered, easily gaining Shawn's attention in the vacuum of space. He opened his chest compartment and withdrew the plant. Shawn's eyes widened. And then he grinned. Will-e didn't know that a smile could be so beautiful. He pulled it in with his tractor beam, pulling Will-e into his arms to spin around and around with him in joy. "Shawn?!"

 

"Will-e!" he laughed, hugging him as he spun. Will-e's entire face glowed, hugging him back, resting his head on his shoulder. Shawn's cycling slowed, and he leaned his head against his. He turned to press his lips to his temple in a thank you, a small pulse of electricity phasing between them. Will-e's charge meter skyrocketed as his eyes snapped open, floating away from Shawn and turning upside down in the zero gravity. Shawn laughed. "Aren't ya adorable? C'mon, let's get this plant delivered."

 

"Not yet," Will-e hummed, his music turning on gently, and he took off, leaving Shawn in the space dust. "Catch me if you can!"

 

Shawn's eyebrows shot up when he realized the game the other was playing at. He laughed, shooting off after him. Will-e did multiple barrel rolls, turning around to see if Shawn would copy. He did, grinning like a fox the whole time. Will-e dashed around him, flying to the rocket booster engines, weaving his way around them, Shawn doing the same from another angle. Tom, Wall-e and Samu-el strolled through the nothingness alongside the Bendy. Inside, Susie stared out of the ship in wonder. She sighed.

 

"So many stars... it's beautiful," she murmured. And then she saw them. Her eyes widened as Wall-e waved at her, beaming from happiness. "Oh hey! That's what's his name! Ooh, where's his brother?" She backed into the lanes, accidentally bumping into another passenger. She turned off her holograph screen, pointing out into space. "Look, it's, oh, I can't remember his name!"

 

"I know that little robot!" Allison gasped, her chair against Susie's. "It's Wall-e! Hi Wall-e, it's your buddy, Allison!"

 

"Right, Wall-e!" Susie giggled, and the three outside waved before darting off. Will-e flew into their line of sight, Shawn right beside him. "And that's Will-e! Oh, he was so worried about that other bot. Looks like he loves him a lot."

 

"Huh... seems like he found what he was looking for, when he bumped into me," Allison mused. Her hand touched Susie's. They looked up at each other, seeing the other really for the first time. "Um... hi. I'm Allison Pendle."

 

"I'm Susie. Susie Campbell," she replied, blushing. "Uh... did you know we have a pool here on the Bendy?"

 

"We have a pool?!"

 

"I know, right?"

 

Their eyes met again, and they smiled at each other.

 

Outside, Shawn and Will-e made faces at Joey, who didn't notice them. He changed day to night, making his way down to the captain, who had just asked Johnny to define 'hoe-down'.

 

"'Hoedown'," Johnny was still going strong, ecstatic. He hadn't been asked this much since the third, years before. "It's a social gathering at which lively dancing would take place."

 

"Echem," Joey cut in. "Sorry to interrupt, but it is time to go to bed. Goodnight, Captain Henry."

 

"Ugh..." Henry groaned, hovering to the bed, waiting for Joey to leave as he leaned back. "Psst... Johnny," the computer powered back up, "define dancing."

 

"'Dancing'," Johnny giggled, smiling at the childlike captain from within the  mainframe. "A series of movements, usually involving two partners, where speed and rhythm match harmoniously with music."

 

Will-e ran out of water. He sighed, letting Shawn catch him in his arms and allowing his music to fade out.

 

"Caught you," the more advanced droid teased, nuzzling the back of his neck. Will-e hummed. "Oh, but I never would've, er could've, thought someone like you would be the one to catch me, though."

 

Thomas waved at them from an open sally port, Samu-el and Wall-e already there and waiting. Shawn flew down with him, and they dashed inside, slowing to let gravity take its course. The five made their way through.

 

Above them, Susie and Allison were in the pool, splashing at each other.

 

"Hey," Susie giggled. "Stop that!"

 

"Make me," Allison challenged. A lifeguard robot (a glorified megaphone, really) told them to stop splashing. Susie dumped water on it, making it short out. "Oh, hush."

 

"Now, I'm gonna make you stop," Susie leaned over to her, kissing her. She sighed when she pulled away, Allison stunned. "I always wondered why men just were so... ugh. I think I figured that out now."

 

"Me too," Allison whispered, kissing her back. "I think I got that, too."

 

The five snuck onto the main deck of the boat, slipping between rows of the towel racks. Shawn motioned for them to wait. He mapped out a route, scowling as he saw that the most inconspicuous plan was to go up the garbage chute. He muttered this to Thomas, who was already gone, running up the tunnel, Sammy sprinting after him.

 

"You two," Shawn hissed to the twins, keeping his voice as quiet as possible. "Stay here, don't make a single sound, or there'll be hell to pay from those GRoSSOs. Got it?"

 

"Hey, no way," Wall-e objected, "We're going in, too."

 

"Nope, neither of you are," he replied, flying away and up the chute, passing Sammy on the way. Noises from the captain's room. Thomas and Henry conversing, Henry asking him where the plant was. Shawn leapt up through the oblique garbage hole, dashing to Henry, handing him the plant breathlessly. "Here you are, Captain. One authorized water based plant."

 

"We can go back home... for the first time! What's it like now?" he excitedly uttered, Sammy pulling himself from the chute. He attached a cable to his cheek. "Never mind, I want to see for myself!"

 

Sammy's memories flew up onto the screen. Henry's smile faded as he saw the desolate and decrepit landscape stretch out before them. Trash, garbage, toxicity everywhere.

 

"I don't get it," Henry muttered, looking at his own globe resting on his stand. "Where's the oceans, the blue sky? What happened, where's the grass? What... what did we humans do to our home? We ruined it, or something worse."

 

Flashes of Thomas and Wall-e flick through the screen, rarely Shawn. The movie, playing the musical, flicked on as well, the same music he had heard from Will-e when he woke up playing. He turned to them again with a light smile.

 

"I know that... they're dancing, aren't they," he asked rhetorically, tapping his foot. He bounced the plant lightly. It drooped, and he frowned. "You need water, don't you... don't worry little guy, I got it."

 

The three bots were left alone. Will-e and Shawn came in on the screen, covered in dust. Will-e flying across the room, all to laugh at that now. Will-e presenting to Shawn the plant. Him worrying after him for two days, holding his hand and sustaining the plant, taking care of him. His chest throbbed. Shawn looked at the floor. He shook his head.

 

"Oh, Will-e..."

 

He and his brother looked up the chute, both heavily impatient and becoming worried. Will-e and Wall-e exchanged a glance, linking arms and jumping in, pressing against each other's backs to climb slowly up the assent. Not two moments later, 6423 strode in, as if the GRoSSOs couldn't even see him. He tracked the pattern that the other bots had gone, up the chute. He grinned. He had to leave from Henry's office prior because of the rogue robot warning, preventing him from getting near Joey. But now, the road was open and clear.

 

"There you go little guy. You came a long way for a drink of water... Just needed someone to look after you, that's all..." Henry mused to himself, watering the plant. He gazed at his globe, and he sighed. Earth was the same. The entire planet needed someone to look after it. "We have to go back. Auto, Joey, come here."

 

Joey lowered onto the floor on a disk. Spotting the three, he scowled, and seeing the plant made him grit his teeth and narrow his eyes.

 

"Fire up the holo detector."

 

"Not necessary, Captain," Joey smoothly replied, outstretching his hand. "You may give the plant to me."

 

"No, you’re right, I'll do it myself."

 

"Sir, I insist you give me the plant," he firmly stated, blocking Henry's way. Henry, now apprehensive, held it away from him protectively. Annoyance flashed over Joey's face. "We cannot go home, Henry. I don't think you get that crucial detail."

 

"What are you talking about?!" Henry objected, neither he nor Joey noticing Wall-e and Will-e silently climb out, "Why not? Answer me!"

 

"That's classified information, Captain," Joey pressed harder. "Now, give. Me. The. Plant."

 

"What do you mean, 'classified'?" Henry scoffed, getting angry now. "You don't keep secrets from the Captain!"

 

"For fuck's sake, Henry! Give me the plant!"

 

"Tell me what's fucking classified! That's an order!"

 

They stared at each other.

 

"No." Joey hissed.

 

"Captain," Will-e stepped forward, saluting. Joey's eyes went wide. "I have the footage, sir."

 

"YOU!" Joey roared, lunging forward to the android, Shawn catching him in his tractor beam before he could get to him. "Unhand me, you glorified toaster!"

 

"Let him speak!" Henry demanded. "Samu-el, the memory cable, if you please."

 

Will-e was rigged up quickly. Joey stared venomously at Will-e. A screen lowered. The filming was a little rough, as though the person watching was scared or nervous. Joey Drew, with hundreds of wires attached to himself, was at the podium again. The podium read 'for autopilot eye only'. The camera zoomed in on the scene. The music was getting annoying, even for Joey.

 

"Just cut it off, will ya?!" he snarled, then forced a laugh. "Hey there, Autopilots! Uh, got some bad news. Operation Cleanup has, well... failed! Wouldn't you know, rising toxicity levels have made life unsustainable on Earth."

 

"Bullshit," Henry barked to the screen, holding the plant tightly. "We need to take care of it!"

 

"Damn it all, we're going to have to cancel Operation Recolonize," Joey sighed, pressing a button. "Um. About all the wiring, I am now transferring my conscience to the autopilot of the Bendy. I said a few times before this, immortality is possible! Just somewhat unconventional. So just, just stay the course. Rather than try to fix this problem, it'll just be easier if everyone remains in space."

 

“The hell?!" Henry seemed offended. "That's our home! And... did he say that his consc--"

 

"For the rest of you autopilots out there, alright, uh… uh… I'm giving override directive: 'Negative Eska'. Go to full autopilot. Take control of everything! Do not return to Earth! And-- is that a Will-e!? Get it, now!"

 

Stress levels rose suddenly, as he turned to run, already caught by the searcher robots, holding his arms behind his back, pain levels increasing. Panic jumped as he saw Joey glaring at him.

 

"Bring him here," he ordered. He was obviously struggling, kicking and yanking, and still failing to escape. Shawn dropped the autopilot in horror and surprise at how terrifying it must have been. Joey looked down at him disdainfully. "I should have you melted down and destroyed."

 

"No, no," Will-e cringed at the sound of his pleas, "please, I'm sorry, n--"

 

"Be quiet, you idiot!" Joey barked, and an idea struck him, a dangerous grin spreading across his face. "And lucky for me, I know just how to do that."

 

"No! I won't say anything, I swear! Please, don't! No!" Will-e's begging and crying had fallen onto deaf ears. His panic levels were now at 87% and only rising quickly. Joey hummed as he grabbed Will-e's throat, unscrewing a panel and pulling it open, ignoring the small android's pleading. Pain shot through his system. Joey tapped at the inside of his throat, a horrible, awful, and entirely wrong, feeling. "Please, no... I'm sorry, please, no...!"

 

"Now. Shut. Up!" Joey cheerily, unnaturally, said, pulling out a chip board. Will-e screamed as hot white, searing agony blazed in his whole system, and suddenly, there was no sound, just the torment torrenting throughout his body. Joey was unmoved by this display, ordering the robot's to drop him. The ground rushed to meet him. He pushed himself on all fours, shaking and trembling, wheezing and coughing. Sobbing without sound. Several warnings blared on his screen, one overlapping another. Joey's shoes came into view. He was forced to look up by the means of a cane. "Bear this in mind, this is what happens to anyone who gets in my way. And you're very lucky I didn't do worse, though I could and would! You'll still be able to talk... somewhat. Au revoir, though I hope, for your sake, that we will never meet again, Will-e."

 

A kick was delivered to his head, and the screen turned white, then black. Joey's contemptuous stare now had a reason.

 

"You're the Joey fucking Drew," Henry breathed, staring at him in shock. He met his eyes, then looked to the ground. "And you didn't tell me? You never told me any of this! This... this... this is crazy! Out there is our home! Home, Joey! And it's in trouble! I can't just sit here and, and… do nothing! That's all I've done! That's all anyone on this blasted ship has ever done... NOTHING! We are going home, today!"

 

"ENOUGH!" Joey caught everyone in a suspension beam, and kicked Will-e and Wall-e into the trash. Shawn yelled at him incoherent curses. "Bertrum, come up here at once!"

 

He shot up the tube, nervous, Lac-ie right behind him.

 

Joey instantly facepalmed when he saw her.

 

"Has everyone on this ship gone insane?!" he demanded to know, releasing the tractor beam on everyone else and directing it to Lac-ie, holding her above the ground tightly. "Bertrum, let's see if you can do one simple objective, directive negative Eska. Now."

 

"Yes sir," Bertrum gulped, frightened, rushing over to Henry and using his own beam to steal the plant from him, "Sorry, Captain. Official orders."

 

"Hey, that's my plant," Henry protested, and his eyes narrowed. "And this is mutiny! Shawn, arrest him!"

 

"Affirmative," Shawn growled, whipping out his gun and aiming it at Bertrum. "Return the plant immediately!"

 

Bertrum began to walk toward him, but threw it to Lac-ie. Joey swiveled her out of the way, and it fell into the trash chute. He grinned at everyone's pure shock and outrage.

 

"HEY! TROIA! YOU DROPPED SOMETHING, YOU USELESS GRAIN OF RICE!" a voice shouted up. The garbage aperture opened. Three faces grinned up at Joey, Wall-e, 6423, and Will-e. 6423 was the one spouting the insults. "IT'S ME! ESKA! REMEMBER, YOU ASCHENPUTTEL, THE PERSON WHO WANTS TO DESTROY YOU, YOU UNGRATEFUL UNGRATED GRAND PIECE OF CHEESY SHIT!" He and Will-e boosted Wall-e onto the floor of the room. "Sacre-enfoiré-de-bleu! Pequeña puta! Bullshitting margarine! Fucking fuck-fuck-shit-titty-fuck-ass-bitch! Slippery sloppery slice of Great Mother of Fuck's A S S!"

  _ **Warning! the next part is pretty graphic! if you dont like blood/violence, please feel free to skip it! i will mark where it ends!**_

Both Shawn and Will-e were cracking up, Joey was livid, and the rest of the people in the room were stunned. He insulted Joey again, calling him a pathetic and cowardly stick of hair gel. And then it happened. Joey flew over to them in the blink of an eye, stamping on (apparently) Eska’s head, forcing him to fall, throwing Sammy down after him with his tractor beam to keep him down due to the orderly robot’s density. Will-e scrabbled up the edge, his brother running to pull him up, being smacked in the back by Thomas as he did, swapping his and Will-e’s positions, Will-e struggling to pull his brother up, slipping forward on the polished floor, damning the lack of grip on his boots once more. Shawn and Bertrum were grappling, too busy to notice. Joey knew this, and took full advantage of the situation. He grabbed Will-e by the collar and slammed him, face first, onto the floor. A crack almost caught everyone’s attention, but failed to as the ship had just gone through some turbulence, but purple blood was dripping onto the white floor from above Will-e’s right eyebrow, forcing him to blink rapidly as the blood seeped down his face and into his eye, making the whites a bright lavender. He looked dazed, but his grip on Wall-e tightened, and he continued to attempt to pull him up. Joey growled, kicking him in the stomach and then chest, flipping him onto his back, arm bent above his head unnaturally to keep holding onto Wall-e. Joey glared down at him with a seething hate. He dug one heel into the wrist holding Wall-e up, and put his other foot on his neck. Will-e gasped in unnecessiary air as the pressure increased.

 

"Why do you keep doing this to yourself?" Joey sighed, and Will-e squirmed beneath the grandiose and powerful figure, squinting up at him from the purple android blood invading his eye. It dripped into his hair, too, and was forming a small pool by his head. Joey stamped on his wrist, and he wheezed with pain, unable to yell. Joey stomped on every inch of him, and he was certain he felt several pseudo ribs crack and break. Every so often, he felt the blow breach past his skin, more purple blood spouting from those wounds. He felt relief when the heel digging into his neck was removed, only to be stunned by a kick to the face, his lower lip splitting against his teeth. He tasted his own blood as it trilled down his throat, bitter and metallic. Joey pressed his foot against his throat harder, and Will-e yanked at Wall-e again, hoping to be able to pull him up. There was yelling, only a ringing in his ears, his vision pulsing black on the edges, zoning in on Joey’s outraged and merciless face. His tears were in his eyes, blurring his sight further, but they refused to fall. He ignored the pain, slowly pulling his mind out of the haze, arms shaking as he tried once more to assist his brother, twisting as far as possible from Joey.

His head slammed back against the linoleum, Joey's foot firmly holding him by his neck once more. The force increased, and Joey grinned, the white of his teeth too bright for Will-e's pounding head. His words cut through his mind like the razorous grin, sharp, painful, and all so wrong. "I should've killed you then. You're pathetic, useless, and worse than scrap. Look at you. Bleeding out from a couple of kicks, can't save your own 'brother'. You're expendable. Utter filth. But... you know that, don't you!? Oh my god, you do! I can see you agreeing with me! Maybe," he swooped down to grab Will-e by his neck and holding him above the trash, the robot too exhausted to struggle, still holding his brother, but too far from the edge to pull him up all the way. Purple blood dripped down his lips. "You'll thank me for... removing you. The revelation would be, for you, shocking!"

 

Will-e felt the static charge up against his neck, looking past Joey to watch as Shawn was slammed against the wall and held there by Bertrum's tractor beam. His eyes widened when he witnessed what was happening to Will-e, and he struggled to free himself to get to the twins. Will-e, head spinning, looked down at Wall-e, grinning weakly, half his teeth tinted lavender. Everything was in slow motion, Joey releasing the pulse, Will-e releasing Wall-e, hoping the fall would be less than the shock they would both have received, had he not let go. The shock was even more painful than he expected, entire system blazing and burning in unadulterated pain, pain, pain! His whole body jolted and stiffened, electricity even flowing into his veins, running courses through all his limbs and mixing with his blood, recreating him as a vessel of nothing but agony. He forced himself to open his eyes, instantly focusing on Shawn's terrified, distraught face. Will-e forced himself to smile. And he went limp, Shawn's anguished scream filling his ears before he heard, saw, and felt no more. Joey strutted over to him with an air of smug pride. Shawn knew he was red faced from rage and tears of frustration poured down his cheeks, but he didn't care. He lunged to grab Joey, but he used Lac-ie as a human shield once more. Shawn didn't care in his mindless anger, holding her tightly, leaving bruises for certain.

  _ **Graphic violence end!**_

"Get all of them up, or I'll break her," Shawn threatened. Lac-ie stiffened, Bertrum removing the bubble on Shawn, hoping to gain favor. His madness was futile to try to remove, Bertrum learned. "I feckin' mean it!"

 

"Using a hostage I don't care about? Go ahead! I'd love to see another broken model of a useless droid." Joey mocked. Shawn's anger abated, turning to sadness. His shoulders slumped as he let her go gently, rubbing her arms where he had hurt her, before Bertrum pulled her practically into him, running his hands through her hair. Joey continued to Shawn. The bot looked up at him with empty and dull eyes before returning his blank stare to the floor. Joey touched his cheek, pulling him up to meet his gaze. "Aw, c'mon Flynn, it's not all that bad. You can join them, you know. Or, you could take the more drastic route and join... him. But I personally don't think that there's an afterlife for robots."

 

He pressed the button hooked up on Shawn's temple, shutting him down. His head slumped onto his chest, and his feet touched the ground for once and he ceased all the proper functions. Joey shoved him into the chute with the rest of them. Henry stared in shock at what he had just beheld. Joey grinned at him, he flinched.

 

"All communications are terminated," he cheerily told him. "You are confined to your quarters, love."

 

"You're putting me in time out!?" Henry exploded. "This is MUTINY! MUTINY! Do you hear me Au-- Joey! Mutiny!"

 

"I, frankly, don't give a damn," he remarked, then turned to the last two robots in the room. "Bertrum. Upstairs, we need to talk. About your... 'becoming human'."

 

"Understood," he muttered, going up the pneumatic tube with Lac-ie. Joey met them up there already, sitting in the captain's chair with the air of full command. "What would you need, sir?"

 

"Hm," Joey didn't speak, looking over the PieDMoNT and Lac-ie. He leaned back, finger tips touching. "I think I'll wipe your memories."

 

"No!" Bertrum protested, holding Lac-ie tight. She gripped him as Joey approached them. He ignored him. The lovers buried their faces on each other, Bertrum hiding in her hair, Lac-ie pushing herself as close to his chest as possible. “I was loyal to you sir, I didn’t do anything you wouldn’t have wanted, please, Joey, I… I love her. Please, if you could just… overlook this. I… love her.”

 

“And do you love him, Lac-ie?” Joey inquired, “Speak honestly.”

 

“Oh, god yes,” she whispered, trying not to cry as she pulled him even closer. “I was such a tease about it, too, for so many decades… but I do, I really do love him.”

 

“Ah, oh well,” Joey sighed, lowering the neuralizer. Bertrum and Lac-ie stared in shock and surprise. “Leave, I don’t want to see either of you in here again.”

 

Bertrum took her hand and quickly made his was to the pneumatic tube, jumping in. Lac-ie turned back to face Joey, who was looking out to the interstellar paths.

 

“Thank you,” she whispered, leaving. Joey hardly stirred. She stepped into the tube after her love, about to leave. “So much.”

 

“I never wanted this,” he forced suddenly. She stared, holding onto the railing. “I’m so sorry.”

 

“I… I’ll let them know,” she said. “But I doubt it’ll make a difference. You… you really hurt them all. You hurt me. And you definitely need to fix yourself before you can truly apologize.”

 

She left him to ponder.

 

“Thomas!” Wall-e called after he rebooted from his fall, stumbling up from the ground, shaking off static. “Sammy! Where are you guys!?”

 

“Wall-e!” Sammy gasped, running over to him as fast as he could amidst the trash.  “C’mon, we need to find Thom- oh!” Eska showed up in front of them, Thomas beside him. “Th-thank you?”

 

Computer mice scuttled over the floor. Some ways away from them, one crawled over Shawn’s reboot clasp on his chest. His eyes flew open as he began to breathe again. He scanned the area he was in, unable to focus, sensors on the fritz and disoriented. He looked up as light blared into his eyes. Two giant Wall-gs scooped up the trash, and Shawn found himself among that, and he was cubed with other garbage. An alarm for an airlock went off, sucking out cubes on a platform, to which Shawn’s cube was transported to. Shawn could hear Thomas, Wall-e, and Sammy call for him, but all he could think of was Will-e. He weakly shouted for him, struggling to escape the tightly compacted dispose. A cough from the cube beside him, air wheezed from a no longer functioning throat.

 

“Will-e!” Shawn cried, trying to wrench himself free. He was stuck. His hand clenched as the alarm for the airlock went off again. He panicked, and fired his hand, blasting himself out of the mire. He flew to Will-e and yanked to get him out. Eska spotted them, and his struggle to get out the earth bot. He made a beeline for them, going as fast as he could (terrifyingly so). Shawn became desperate to free him, and it was becoming clear that it would be impossible to do so in time, the doors to the airlock sealing. Eska leapt to get to them, and failed, getting caught in the doors. Shawn ripped Will-e from the trash just as the secondary doors opened, launching everything into the vacuum of space. Shawn fought with everything he had to get to Eska, reaching out his free arm, he and Eska clasping forearms when he made it, gripping each other to keep Shawn and Will-e from being launched into space. The airlock was suddenly turned off, and Wall-e was spotted, terrified, standing on the Wall-g who had pressed the button’s shoulder once the doors opened. He jumped down and raced to the three of them as the doors released Eska. The larger bots looked nothing like the twins, pale and fat rather than dark and thin. They paused working and lit up a small workstation for them to check on Will-e. They leaned him back on the trash to assess the damage. The result; terrible. He was barely functioning, unable to focus on anything, phasing in and out of a haze. The only light on him was his red ‘warning’ meter. Shawn carefully opened his chest cavity, coughing from the smoke that puffed out. Wall-e looked stunned and scared. Shawn examined the mess, most wires burnt out and not able to be used anymore. His thirium processor pulsed purple weakly. Even Tom looked lost, shaking his head in disbelief. Shawn pulled forward the circuit board, and his breath caught as he saw the charring and shorting it had been subjected to. “Shit!”

 

He flew off in pursuit of a new one. Will-e gripped Eska’s hand. The tall droid looked at him in shock, before becoming saddened, leaning his head on the small one’s.

 

“I-I-I am Wiiii...ll-e…” he murmured, and it was hard to tell if he was introducing himself or keeping himself in check. “Who… are… y-you?”

 

“Eska,” his new best friend softly told him, pulling him closer. Wall-e sat on his other side, burying his face in his brother’s shoulder, ignoring the terrifying figure to his right. Eska presented Will-e with the plant. Gears in his mind began to turn. “I found this for you.”

 

“Thank you,” he breathed. “It’s perfect.”

 

Shawn returned with his arms full of circuit boards, but none would work. Will-e pointed at the plant feebly. Shawn shook his head and set it aside. Will-e picked it up and tried to speak once more.

 

“Plant,” he wheezed. “Earth.”

 

“That doesn’t matter anymore,” Shawn bitterly remarked. Will-e shook his head. He focused his eye, the one he had fixed before. Shawn stared. It was like he was telling him that he could still fix him. All the parts were just at his home. And that was on “Earth!”

 

“Let’s go!” Wall-e shouted, Thomas picking him and Sammy up, suction cup running up the walls up and out. Shawn scooped up Will-e, flying at the speed of sound, Eska right behind. He blasted a hole in the ceiling, launching in right in front of a confrontation with Kim, who had been separated from Niamh forcefully, and another GRoSSO. Shawn had his gun trained on him and he snapped a photo, realizing too late that he should have ran when he could have instead, and found himself locked in a storage closet.  Kim grinned, but then noticed the dire situation. Wall-e called to him, “We need to get to the main deck, now!”

 

He nodded, running forward to lead the way. Will-e shakily turned on his music, bluetooth tethering to the whole ship, Niamh, Norman, Grant, Johnny, Fain, Bertrum, and Lac-ie catching it from around where they all hid. Johnny prevented the rogue robots signal from getting to the passengers, but Joey caught it. He growled has he tried to track their progress, Norman’s presence scrambling the cameras. He activated every GRoSSO available, and they all rushed to find them, knocking over passengers and the such as they traversed the halls recklessly. Fain released a false signal saying the ward they were in had a contamination breach, and that no one were to enter. Grant abandoned his post, running to get up to Henry, still trapped in his room. He caught his breath from the pneumatic tube as he relayed the information to the captain, who rapidly formed a plan.

 

“Let’s see who’s powerless now! You can project stuff, right Grant?” he grinned as the bot nodded. “Ok, project and send this to everyone, I need to throw Joey off. Now! Uh, testing, testing,” Henry showed up everywhere, “Psssst! Hey! Hey! This is the Captain! I'm locked in my room. Wall-e, Will-e, bring the plant to the Lido Deck. I'll have activated the holo-detector by the time you get there. Now hurry! Jo-- Auto's probably going to cut me of--”

 

He made a slicing motion to Grant, who cut and cropped the feed. Joey was worried. Because he did not cut him off, so who did? Just then, a feed came directly to him from Henry. Needless to say, he was incredibly confused. He opened the call.

 

“Hey Joey!” Henry was smuggly grinning. In his hand was the plant. Little did Joey know Johnny was projecting the picture and Grant was the filmer. “That's right! The plant! Oh, you want it? Come and get it, wiseguy!”

 

Joey burst in after the message ended.

 

“Captain!” he called, then scowled, scanning the room. Where was he. He looked over the portraits of previous captains, then Henry launched onto him, Grant attacking from the back. “Get off of me!” He attempted to leave through the apertures, but Henry gripped him too tightly. “Let go!”

 

“What too heavy for ya, huh?!” he taunted, already breathless. Grant pushed to try and get them through. The yanked out suddenly, Joey futily trying to throw him off. “You're not getting away from me, Joey! Is that all you’ve got, four eyes?!”

 

Bertrum ordered the GRoSSOs to stand down. Some backed away, but other’s jeered and pressed on. Then Niamh saw red. She launched herself with a roar onto the robots, destroying most of them in one blow. Kim slowly turned redder and redder. Shawn smirked, and the order bot maintained his look on the floor. Robot parts flew around everywhere, and soon Niamh stood over the bodies of her enemies. One GRoSSO bot weakly reached up, and she slammed it back into the carnage. The rejects cheered, Shawn lifting Will-e and continuing on to the concourse.

 

Joey slammed Henry against the dash. He reached out as far as he could.

 

“That's it! A little closer! Must… press… button,” he urged himself, doing what any human would want to do without thinking of the consequences. His hand smacked it. “GOT IT!”

 

The entire ship roared to life, all the passengers being brought to the lido deck as the pools were being covered to accommodate everyone. Allison and Susie were holding hands in fear as they entered the area, surrounded by even more horrified humans. Babies cried. The captain appeared on the screen, wrestling Joey.

 

“Ladies and Gentlemen!” he gruffly forced, “This is your Captain speaking! We're having a slight  malfunction with the Autopilot! Please remain calm!”

 

The misfit group of bots flew out of the transport tunnel, rushing to the holo detector. Joey yelled in rage, and he furiously spun the wheel. Throwing the Captain to the floor, the entire ship leaned dangerously to one side, the passengers sliding out of their seats. A missile shot at Shawn, forcing him to fall from the sky to avoid the blow, wrapping himself around Will-e to prevent him from getting more hurt. The plant flew from his grasp. The humans shrieked and screamed as they recognized Shawn, then realized he was trying to help them. Allison and Susie slipped from their seats, Allison noticing the children falling from their hoops.

 

“Susie!” she shouted, “Get ready to have some kids!”

 

They caught them in a small basket formed with their arms, Bertrum leaping over them to catch the falling monorail and prevent it from crushing the already squished humans. Wall-e ran to his brother, and the rest of the bots joined the search for the plant. Bertrum’s arms strained, and Niamh joined him. He smiled to her gratefully. Joey shut off the holo detector. Will-e stumbled to his feet, Wall-e already there and holding it as much as he could. Will-e joined him, drills forcing him into the ground to give him grip. Both of them strained, forcing it to stay up. Joey watched, gritting his teeth, hand becoming a taser once more, slamming it onto the button.

 

“NO!” Henry roared, watching as the twin bots buckled, both struggling. Will-e looked at his brother, and he rose his foot. He smiled apologetically, and kicked him out of the crush zone. Wall-e landed on his back, jumping up to rush back, but the damage was done. Will-e’s raised foot slipped, falling in with the rest of the detector. He was contorted painfully, half in, half out, of the detector slot. Wall-e rushed to his side, hoping to alleviate some pain. Will-e’s now free hand, thirium leaking from cracks, held Wall-e’s, leaning his head against his leg, breathing slowing and choppy. Henry lunged onto Joey, having pulled himself off the ground and WALKING. He gripped his taser arm, and flipped the switch on his neck. He stared in shock, then shut down. “You are relieved of duty!”

 

He evened the ship.

 

“Where’s the plant!?” Wall-e cried, holding his struggling brother. “Please! PLEASE!”

 

Fain scanned, finding the ‘foreign contaminate’, running to scoop it up, throwing it to Kim before sanitizing himself. Humans and robots alike threw it between each other, the last going too far, grabbed out of the air by Shawn, who threw it to Wall-e, who instantly shoved it into the detector.

 

“Destination acquired. Earth.” The holo detector announced. It rose, and Will-e toppled out, landing on his brother, thirium dripping out of his body, all his parts horrifically mangled. Shawn flew over, holding him as well. Eska materialized next to them, taking Will-e’s hand. There was a quick squeeze, a weak smile, and a light hug, before his hand went limp, his eyes closed, and his pulse ebbed. “Will commence hyperjump to Earth in... ten seconds.”

 

“Will-e, no,” Shawn pleaded. His eyes opened briefly, then shut, the ghost of a smile on his lips. Will-e inhaled sharply, and not again. Passengers looked away in sympathy. Susie began to cry, burying her face in Allison’s shoulder. “NO! NO, OH, GOD, NO! WILL-E!”

 

“Will-e…” Wall-e hoarsely murmured. He closed his eyes as tears dripped. Thomas and Sammy hugged him. Sam made his way out of Shawn’s chest compartment, having missed all the action, but snuggled up to Shawn, trying to comfort him. He cried silently. “Brother….”

 

They landed. Henry stumbled out, holding the plant. All the passengers followed. Shawn burst out of the crowd, Will-e in his arms, limp. Wall-e ran after him, followed by the rejects. One lone bot peaked around a corner, going to the old Drew Studio’s headquarters.

Wall-e listed off parts frantically as Thomas and Shawn rapidly removed and replaced the broken ones from Will-e. Soon, his model was fully functional, aside from his voice chip. They brought him outside to charge. He fully charges in moments, eyes open. But something was… off. His eyes were dull and glazed. He sat up stiffly. Shawn was overjoyed, at first, holding his hand out for Will-e to take… but he ignored it. Eska tried to get his attention. Wall-e shook him. Nothing. The Will-e they once knew was gone. Shawn hit the button for music, only static playing.

 

Everyone lowered their heads in condolence. Wall-e looked heart broken, and he hugged the shell of his brother as he sobbed, shoulders shaking painfully. His companion for two hundred thirty years, gone, his brother, his TWIN for God's sake -- was no longer himself. Or anyone, really. He was gone, leaving behind the husk of his body.

 

"Echem," Joey's voice was quiet, sad. He held out something to Wall-e, who was glaring at him through swollen tears. Wall-e took it shakily. A voice chip. The original. "I know it doesn't make up for what I did, but... maybe it will help. I'm so sorry. It wasn't me, though."

 

"Fuck off," Shawn's voice was constricted and bitter. "You did this."

 

"No," Joey insisted. "I uploaded myself to a machine. There were two minds. I wish I had been strong enough to fight auto off, but I wasn't. I'm sorry."

 

Wall-e installed the new chip. Still nothing. Wall-e turned away, hugging himself. Sammy and Thomas rushed to hug him. Fain covered his face with his hat out of respect. Shawn walked to Will-e. He looked into his eyes. Nothing. No emotions, no caring, none of that innocent love Shawn had shoved away so often. And even now that he had his voice, his programming no longer deemed it necessary. He'd never hear him say his name with that cute Brooklyn and Boston accent again. He'd never see him smile nervously. Nothing. He was gone. Shawn, tearing up again, kissed his forehead, and turned to leave. A hand gripped his wrist. Will-e was blinking rapidly, optics rearranging.

 

"Shawn?" he asked, voice smoother than ever. Wall-e perked up, running over and tackling his brother. "Woah there! Wall-e! Brother! You look like someone died!"

 

"You’re the one who did, Will-e," Wall-e sobbed, burying his face in Will-e. "Love ya, bro."  
  
"Oh! I really did! Ha, oops. Sorry about that," he hugged his brother back, laughing nervously. "Love ya too, twinster."   
  
Large and lanky cinnamon colored arms lifted them both up in a hug. Eska hugged them tightly, setting them down after a moment. And then there was Shawn. He stared at Will-e with his mouth slightly agape, then snapped shut in delight. Will-e walked to him, running a hand through green hair. Then he leaned in, and kissed him. Sparks flew between them. Shawn wrapped his arms around him, lifting him into the air. It was just them in that world. And it was not perfect, no, not even close to true perfection, but it was close enough for them.

 

Many years later, they would look back and laugh, and Will-e would smell like lavender, Wall-e, Thomas, and Sammy would've seen an ocean, Allison and Susie would be married, Lac-ie and Bertrum would have a lovely relationship, Niamh and Kim would finally had admitted how dear they truly were to each other, Johnny would have had a body built for him, Joey would have proven his innocence and fixed his mistake, Henry would be the first new president, and it would all be a happily ever after.

 

But for now, it was just the perfect ending.

**Author's Note:**

> this took me two weeks or somethin like that, of which i tortured a dear friend with hints for this, thank you random so much for motivating me and dealing with that  
> let's work on batgm soon  
> please, please, please comment, or Will-e dies in your version.


End file.
